


Underfates

by sonicgirl313



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Choices, Family, Gen, Insanity, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-25
Updated: 2017-06-26
Packaged: 2018-06-10 17:44:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 32,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6966907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonicgirl313/pseuds/sonicgirl313
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fate can be a mysterious thing, with just one choice fates can be altered and changed leading down to different paths. A child was always destined to fall into the Underground, a child was always given the choice to be merciful or a killer, but the tale isn't always about the same child. Undertale AU Contains Female Frisk and Female Chara</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fallen

Underfates

Chapter 1

Falling, falling was the last thing a young child who began to stir upon the golden flowers they lay upon remembered. The child groaned as they lifted their head up to see only a glimmer of light shining above them. They were confused until they heard a strange humming echoing throughout the darkness. Deciding to investigate, the child stood up and stared into the dark abyss that lay before them. Gathering their courage, the child walked into darkness, following the sounds of the humming. Eventually he reached another spot where light shined down above to see a little girl with short brown hair, wearing a large sunhat hiding away most of her face, a white coat with a long tail that fanned out like a dress and rolled up sleeves, white gloves, green pants, and finally black boots happily humming to herself as she gathered up golden flowers into the brown basket she carried on her arm.

The girl only ceased her actions when she noticed the young child staring at her in confusion. She lifted up her head, revealing that the sunhat kept her eyes hidden away in darkness. She formed a sweet smile on her face as she began twirling one of her golden flowers between her index finger and thumb.

"Why I never knew a monster was this far back in the ruins. Normally only humans pop up here." she commented.

The girl could easily see the child was a young goat-like monster with red eyes and white fur, wearing a green and yellow striped sweater and black pants.

"So tell me, what's your name little monster?" the girl asked, adding a happy hum to the end of her sentence.

The monster child blinked his eyes in shock before replying "Everyone should know who I am, I'm Asriel Dreemur."

Asriel noticed that the girl almost stiffened when she heard this and he could have almost sworn that a red glow had emit from her eyes. But he didn't get to study her long enough because the girl formed a sweet smile on her face; a smile that made him feel uneasy and sent a wave of dread down his spine.

"Well I think someone should still teach you the rules of the Underground." the girl said.

Before Asriel could even react, the girl's hand glowed in a red aura and he felt his soul be ripped out of his body. His red eyes widened when he saw a small red heart floating in front of his chest. He knew that couldn't be his soul because monster souls were white and the heart should had been in an upside position. Unfortunately the monster child didn't have time to question his strange development because the girl's hand glowed red once more as she summoned small white bullets that encircled her body.

"I call these my little 'friendliness pellets' try to get them all. I'm dying to see you succeed." she laughed before shooting the pellets at top speeds at the monster before her.

Asriel gasped as he tried to jump out of the way of the pellets but unfortunately every single one of them managing to hit his body. The monster child cried out in pain as he collapsed on his hands and knees, unaware of the small cracks forming in the red heart hovering over his chest. He glanced up to see the girl's smile had turned into a twisted and psychotic one as she continued twirling her golden flower in her hand.

"What a crying shame, to be killed by me, the Flower Child. Oh well, I guess you were never meant to live in the first place since in this world it's..." the girl started before letting a dark and sinister laugh rise from her throat as she finished, "Killed or be killed."

With a psychotic laugh, the Flower Child moved her pellets where they encircled Asriel and trapped him, granting him no escape. She continued to laugh as she made the bullets slowly approach the young monster. But before she could even harm the monster even further a blast of fire zipped by the girl's face, causing her to cry out in fear. Because of this she lost focus over her command and the pellets fell to the ground.  
Asriel blinked in confusion, wondering who save him until he heard the sound of someone running to toward him. He turned his head toward the direction of the sound and his heart nearly stopped when he saw a female goat-like monster with two short horns and red eyes, wearing a long purple dress with long white sleeves.

"Oh poor child being tormented by such a horrible creature." the female monster said with a concerned frown as she kneeled down in front of Asriel.

Her hands were engulfed in a blue aura and she laid her hands firmly on the sides of his head, healing his injuries and making the cracks in the red heart vanish.  
Asirel was in shock, he couldn't believe after all that time he had finally been reunited with his mother Toriel. He could feel tears forming in the corner of his eyes, both from relief that his mother had saved him in time and from the fact he finally got to see his mother's face again.

"Mom, I'm so happy you're here!" he cried out before hugging Toriel tightly.

But unfortunately the young monster wasn't greeted with the kind motherly nature he had expected from a woman that had been reunited with her long-lost child. Instead he glanced up to see a stunned and confused expression painted on her face and her cheeks were bright red.

Finally she spoke up while doing her best to hide away the nervousness in her voice "Well you're a very strange human, calling me 'Mom' the moment you see me. But if you feel comfortable calling me that then I'm fine with that. But if you need a name to call me by, my name is Toriel."

Asriel's eyes widened upon hearing these words; he couldn't believe that his mother couldn't see who he was. Quickly he glanced down at his body but much to his confusion, his appearance hadn't changed one bit, leaving him to wonder why his mother saw him as a human child. It was then he remembered his encounter with the Flower Child and when she had summoned his soul, it wasn't normally like a Monster Soul. At that moment, he remembered where that soul had came from.

_"Chara, I don't like this plan anymore! Please you can't die on us just to break the barrier!" Asriel sobbed as he kneeled down at the foot of the bed that contained a girl with short brown hair, brown eyes, pink-rosy cheeks, and wearing a green and yellow striped sweater, brown shorts, and black boots lying ill with her life slipping away._

_The girl only smiled, one that seemed innocent on the surface but to Asriel sent a wave of uneasiness through him. She closed her eyes and within a few seconds a glowing red heart appeared before her chest._

_"You want to free everyone, don't you, Asriel? Then take my soul and together we'll do what's right." she said with the smile never leaving her face._

_"I-I-I..." the young monster stuttered nervously as sweat began to drip down his forehead, unsure what to do._

_Finally with a sigh Asriel, reached his hands out and clasped his hands onto the red heart and at that moment he felt a surge of great power course throughout his entire body, transforming him into a being with unimaginable power._

Asriel couldn't prevent the raspy and shaky breaths that escaped his mouth and prompted his entire body to shake with fear. He now remembered that he had taken Chara's soul upon her death and crossed the barrier. But unfortunately as much as he tried to remember; he couldn't remember what had happened once he crossed the barrier. Deciding to push that thought to the side, Asriel decided that what was more important was the realization that with Chara's soul still in his body and how it seemed to make him appear as a human in the eyes of monsters.

The young monster was awakened from his thoughts when he heard his mother speak up "Well it seems that dreadful child has fled for now. It is so strange, I have never seen her around here before. But you must be hungry and very tired after falling down here, allow me to take you back to my home."

Asriel did not object as his mother helped him up and guided him through the ruins. As he walked with his mother, many thoughts were coursing through his mind such as why his mother had chosen to live so far away from the castle and where his father Asgore could possibly be. Eventually after a while the two approached a small little house at the end of the ruins. Asriel's mouth slightly opened in surprise because the house looked exactly like his old house before he crossed the barrier. The young monster chose to not say anything as his mother guided him inside and lead down the hallway to a single door.

"Here's your room. Please make yourself comfortable child." Toriel said with a smile.

Without a word she lifted her hand and began gently stroking Asriel's head. She didn't know why, but something felt familiar to her about the child she had brought to her home. While it was true that she had cared for other children that had fallen into the Underground, this particular child seemed to stand out to her, almost as if he were one of her own. Shocked at the thoughts forming about a child she had just met, Toriel immediately made up an excuse and quickly dashed down the hallway, leaving the child alone.

Asriel frowned in sadness as he watched his mother leave; his heart aching at the fact she wasn't able to recognize him for what he is and believes him to be a total stranger. With a sigh he glanced at the door to his room, figuring that he might as well get some rest. He grapsed ahold of the doorknob and opened the door, entering the room. Once inside, Asriel frowned when he saw his mother had made it look exactly like his hold room except for the fact in his old room there was a second bed that Chara use to occupy. Unconsciously the monster child clutched at his sweater where Chara's soul was located, remembering the reason why the human child fell ill and died.

Deciding to banish his guilt filled memories, Asriel climbed into his bed and pulled the covers over himself. He let out a shaky sigh, partially wishing that when he wakes up that Chara would still be alive and the crossing of the barrier and the Flower Child were nothing more than a bad dream. Finally his eyes drooped closed and Asriel found himself slipping into a slumber.

_"That monster he killed that poor child!" a women shrieked._

_"You'll pay for what you've done monster!" an angry man's voice shouted._

_Soon a young child's voice cried out "No please sto..."_

_But the child did not finish their sentence and was cut off by the sound of a gunshot filling the air._

Asriel sat up in his bed in a cold sweat, taking in frantic breathes and his heart rapidly pounded in his chest. His red eyes darted all over the room, taking in his blurry surroundings. When he saw he was in the same room he had fallen asleep in, the young monster released of sigh of relief before dropping his head onto his knees. The voices in his nightmare terrified him and confused him deeply. He felt like he should recognize the voices, but unfortunately the dream was very much a blur and he could not remember the faces nor the surroundings of the dream.

Just then a sweet smell reached his nose, prompting him to sniff to get a good whiff of the scent. He lifted up his head to see none other than a slice of butterscotch and cinnamon pie on the floor. Asriel couldn't help but smile before climbing out of the bed and picking up the plate. He remembered before Chara's death that his mother use to leave them slices of her pie for them to discover once they awoken. With a grin Asriel took a bite of the pie; a huge smile forming on his face when he discovered the taste was just as good as he remembered.

Once his plate was clean, Asriel left the room, fortunate that his mother had designed her new home to look as much like the old made his way to the living room where he saw his mother sitting in a large chair reading a book with reading glasses on.

"Hey m... I mean Toriel, I finished the pie you gave me." he said, stopping himself when he remembered that his mom thought he was a human.

Toriel lifted her head up and replied "Oh, did you enjoy it? I wanted to make Snail Pie, but I figured you would like my Butterscotch and Cinnamon pie more."

Asriel nodded his head before entering the kitchen to placed the plate in the sink before returning to the living room to sit down in front of his mother. He couldn't help but smile at getting to sit with his mother once more but something kept bothering him and that was his absence of his father. He remembered that his parents were very close and so much in love that it made other people gag at the sight in annoyance.

Deciding to investigate, Asriel asked "So where's Asgore?"

When Toriel heard that name she dropped her book in shock as her face went pale. She stared at the child sitting before him, wondering how he knew the name of her ex-husband. The other humans she had taken care of had never heard of the King of Monsters until she spoke of him as a warning when they left the ruins to begin their journey to try to return home. Toriel raised a brow at the air of mystery that seemed to surround the child she had taken into her custody but then she remembered how Asriel was attacked by the Flower Child.

_"Could it be that strange girl spoke of Asgore to him and told him of the barrier? If so that would mean... no... no I can't lose another one!"_ she thought to herself.

Wasting no time she immediately got out of her chair and left the room.  
Asriel frowned in concern, wondering why his mother had left when he asked about his father. Unsure what else to do, the young monster followed after his mother to see the tip of her horns disappear behind a staircase that lead down into a dark tunnel. A wave of dread washed over Asriel once again as he made his way down the stairs, fearing what was running through his mother's mind. He kept following the tunnel until he finally found Toriel standing in front of a large stone door.

"So you followed me? It seems my fears were right. Child please go back to your room, I won't let you leave just so you can be slain by Asgore. Once I destroy this exit, you will be safe." she stated in a shaky tone.

Asriel gasped in horror at this; he wasn't shocked at the fact she claimed his own father would try to kill him since he remembered in her eyes he looks like a human child, no the thing that horrified him was that his father was killing humans. He remembered that his father was so kind to Chara before she died and treated her like his own daughter.

Without thinking he blurted out "Mom, I have to go see dad and find out why he's killing the humans!"

Toriel instantly spun around; her face unable to hide the horror and confusion on it. She was now convinced that the child might had hit his head when he fell into the underground since he was talking like he was hers and Asgore's child. She couldn't let another child leave the ruins when the previous six all lost their lives as a result of traversing the underground. With her mind set, Toriel stood firmly in front of the stone door and created magic fire in her hands.

"If you want to leave so badly and face Asgore, then prove to me you can survive!" she said as her voice was chocking back a sob.

Asriel was speechless as the red heart appeared above his chest once again. He didn't want to fight his mother even though he had the power to do so. Feeling determination course through him thanks to Chara's soul, he refused to fight his mother.  
Upset that the child chose to neither fight or flee, Toriel blasted fire at the child, her heart aching when she heard his frightened yells as he barely dodged the fire. She didn't want to fight him but she wanted to do everything that she could to prevent the child from leaving. But despite the many fire attacks she blasted at him, the child refused to fight. Tears began streaking down her face as she shot her fire magic more frequently, ignoring the fact that none of the fire attacks were hitting the child.

Asriel stood completely still, his heart aching in pain as he watched his mother sobbed before him. He understood that his mother only wanted to protect him like the other children but he knew he needed to go to his father to find out why he is killing possibly innocent humans.  
When Toriel saw the child refused to fight, she fell to her knees sobbing. She didn't have the heart to continue attacking the child out of her love for him.

"Pathetic is it not, I can't even save one child. I don't want you to leave, but I cannot bring myself to hurt you." she said as her tears dripped upon the cold stone floor.

Asriel frowned before he kneeled down and pulled his mother into a hug in an attempt to comfort her.

"I could never fight you, Mom, or anyone as a matter of fact. You taught me better than that." he whispered in her ear.

Toriel blinked in surprise, wondering why the child claimed she had taught him when supposedly she still barely knew him. But when she pulled away her head to look at she child, she gasped and clasped her hand over her mouth. She no longer saw a small human child but rather her own child staring at her with an innocent smile.

"As-As-Asriel, it can't be can it?" she uttered in a shaky tone.

"Hey you can finally see me as me!" Asriel shouted happily, glad that his mother now saw him as himself.

Many emotions ran through Toriel's mind at the sight of seeing her son who had supposedly died a few years ago. Unable to comprehend all her feelings clashing together, she cried as she pulled her son into a tight hug, constantly whispering over and over how he was alive.  
Asreil snuggled his head against his mother's chest as he insured her how he was real.

"Oh, Asriel..." Toriel began as she pulled out of the hug to wipe away her tears, "Your father and I both thought you were killed by the humans. Your father was so consumed by grief that he had decreed that every human who falls into the Underground must die and he would use their souls to break the barrier and demolish mankind."

"Then I have to show him I'm alive, come on Mom, we can go together." Asriel exclaimed.

But much to the young monster's disappointment, his mother frowned as she slowly stood up.

"I'm sorry, my child but I think I shall stay here. I can't stand the sight of what your father has become." she said.

"Mom?" Asriel spoke up in confusion, but sadness filled him as his mother suggested that he better leave if he wanted to see Asgore soon before walking back through the tunnels.

He couldn't believe his own mother didn't want to see his father and even talked about him as if even mentioning him disgusted her. With a small sigh, Asriel pushed open the stone door and left, figuring it would be better to try to confront his father as soon as possible rather than trying to get answers from Toriel. But as he exited the ruins, the young monster froze when a familiar giggling reached his ears. He turned around to see the Flower Child he had met earlier.

"So you didn't even have the heart to attack you own mother even though she tried to trap you within these ruins?" the girl taunted, "You instead chose to open your heart to her, breaking the spell caused by the human soul you carry and allowed her to see who you truly are. You know even if you had chosen to kill her instead, before her last moments of death, she would had seen who you really are."

Asriel clenched his fists in anger before demanding "Why are you like this, why are you so desperate to see things die?"

The girl chuckled as she took a sniff out of the golden flower she held before answering "It's like I said, Asriel. In this world it's kill or be killed. I can't wait to see how you will treat your fellow monsters since much like your mother, they will all think you're a human and will be out to kill you. Will you continue this pathetic act of mercy or will you do what's right and slay them all? I can't wait to see how this turns out."

With that said, the Flower Child released a psychotic laugh before backing into the darkness and vanishing from sight.  
Asriel couldn't help but shudder when hearing the girl's words. As much as he hated to admit it, the Flower Child was right when she told him that the other monsters would kill him thanks to both Chara's soul and his father's law. Taking in a deep breath, the young monster turned toward the stone archway that led out of the ruins, determination coursing through the soul he carried.

Silently he left the ruins, unsure on how he would deal with the monsters that would try to kill him but also hoping at the same time that he would still be able to find it in his heart to be merciful and not to give into any dark urges that may start lurking within him.


	2. Not so Spooky Skeletons

Chapter 2

Asriel shivered and ruffled his fur when it stepped out of the ruins to be greeted with the bitter cold air. He stared at the snow covered path that lay before him, remembering how he brought Chara down that very same after he found her when she had fallen from the surface. Pushing that memory far back into his mind, he began trudging through the freezing snow. The young monster's teeth chattered as he frantically rubbed his arms, wishing that his sweater could at least provide him more warmth. Asriel made his way further and further into the forest; his red eyes managing to spot a strange wooden gate.

But before he could take another step, his foot managing to slip on a patch of ice. The young monster cried out as he flew through the air and squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the painful impact. He waited and waited, but much to his surprise the impact never came. Asriel slowly opened his eyes to find his body engulfed in a blue glow and being held upside-down, confusing him greatly.

"you know kid, you should really watch where you're going more." a deep male voice spoke up.

Asriel turned to see a short skeleton with a grin and tiny white pupils, wearing a white shirt, a blue jacket with a white fur collar, black and white shorts, and black sneakers. He saw the skeleton had a hand held out that was engulfed in the same blue glow as his body was.

"heh, i guess you must want to _hang around_." the skeleton said, his grin growing wider as he put emphasis on his last few words and gently placed Asriel back on the ground.

The young monster shock his head, feeling a little dizzy from being hung upside-down for so long. Once he gathered his bearings, he noticed the skeleton was holding out a hand to him. Asriel was a little wary of this gesture but after a few seconds in thought, he grabbed ahold of the hand only to be startled by a loud fart sound.  
The skeleton chuckled as he held back his hand to reveal a small whoopee cushion was tied to it.

"the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick, never gets old. the name's sans by the way." he replied as he stuffed both of his hands into his jacket's pockets.

"Oh well I'm..." Asriel started to speak up but then said "Wait, I look like a human to you, don't I?"

Sans shrugged his shoulders as he replied "i don't see what else you're suppose to look like."

Asriel's ears lowered in disappointment; he knew there would be no point in revealing his name when no one could see his true form. So with a sigh, he lied to Sans by claiming that he couldn't remember his name after he fell into the Underground. He glanced at Sans and grew nervous when he did not reply but he only instead stared at him.

Then much to his surprise, Sans' pupils disappeared before he finally asked "is that what you want to go with?"

Unsure what else to say, the young monster nodded his head in reply.  
Within a few seconds Sans' pupils returned and he shrugged his shoulders.

"eh whatever you say, kid." he said, "i guess you're a little nervous about walking through this forest alone so I might as well help ya. besides it gives me a chance to take you to grillby's. so come on, i know a shortcut."

Before Asriel could even utter a reply, Sans already grabbed him by the wrist and led him back in the direction he came from. He was confused by this until he felt a strong gust of wind that forced him to squeeze his red eyes close. When the wind died down, he opened his eyes only to be shocked when he found himself standing in a restaurant with different monsters eating and drinking. The young monster blinked in confusion as Sans headed to the counter while many different monsters greeted him. But because he was so caught up in his confusion, Asriel accidentally bumped into someone. He truned around to see a large white dog in armor and holding a spear.

The dog tilted his head slightly as he leaned in close and began sniffing him. Once the dog got the scent, he began panting happily and started licking Asriel's face.  
The young monster couldn't help but laugh as he reached up and began petting the dog's head, prompting the dog to wag his tail happily. He kept petting the dog until a smaller white dog wearing armor as well run up to him, wanting to be petted as well. Deciding to comply, Asriel began petting the smaller dog as well and was surprised when the dog's neck began stretching to unbelievable lengths.

"I never seen Greater Dog and Lesser Dog this playful before." commented a white male dog wearing a black cloak commented.

"Hang on, Dogamy, I'll get a sniff too." a female dog wearing a black cloak as well replied.

Greater Dog and Lesser Dog managed to pull away just in time for the female dog to start sniffing the young monster. When she got the scent, her head jerked back so fast that her hood almost fell off of her head.

"Your scent, it doesn't match your appearance. I know that your appearance should match up with another scent my husband and I is familiar with. But I can't name it at the moment." the female dog stated.

Before Asriel could utter a single word, Sans walked up next to him and propped his arm up on his shoulder.

"don't worry, dogressa, the kid is with me." the skeleton explained, "i think the reason since he's been hanging around me that his scent may come of as _boney_."

Upon hearing this joke, all the dogs started howling with laughter except for one named Doggo who was a black and white dog wearing a pink tank top and yellow pants with black spots demanded to know who was talking since he couldn't see anything unless they were moving.  
Without a word, Sans grabbed Asriel by the arm and lead him over to the bar counter. The young monster mindlessly kicked around his legs that hung from the bar stool as he watched Sans asked Grillby who was a monster that was flames wearing glasses and wore a white button-up shirt and a black vest for two orders of hamburgers.

Grillby nodded before disappearing behind the kitchen door only to shortly come out later with two hamburgers and placed them before Asriel and Sans.  
Asriel wasn't really hungry since he had already eaten a slice of his mother's pie, but to make himself not appear rude, he picked up the burger and took a huge bite out of it. He glanced over at Sans as he continued to eat his burger, surprised the skeleton hadn't even touched his burger and was instead drinking ketchup from a bottle. While the young monster found this strange; he chose not to question the skeleton's preferences.

The two continued to sit in silence until Sans finally said "so kid, why did you exactly come to the underground?"

Asriel stopped eating his burger and quietly muttered "I can't remember anything before the fall."

He knew wasn't completely lying since it was true that after he crossed the barrier, he had no memories of the events and had no idea how he made his way back into Mt. Ebott to fall back into the underground. All he knew was that he had a feeling that he was gone for a while which his mother managed to confirm.

Sans hummed thoughtfully as he closed his eyesockets and much to Asriel's surprise, the surroundings almost seemed to stop and grow dark.

"kid, had you ever thought about fate?" the skeleton started to say, not giving the young monster a chance to reply, "it's strange how with one simply choice, fate can be altered greatly. it can make people change outlooks on life, it can make them persue new dreams, or sometimes it can even swap destinies in a strange and unexplained way. there's just no telling with fate."

Asriel stared at Sans silently, unsure why he had chosen to give him a speech about fates. He didn't understand exactly what fate had to do with his current situation. Unfortunately he didn't get his answer since the skeleton reopened his eyesockets and their surroundings brightened and began moving once more.

"well i guess i'll get going, kid." Sans said as he slid off the stool he sat on and asked Grillby to put the bill on his tab which only promted the fire monster to shake his head slowly with his hand placed against his head due to the fact Sans never pays his bill.

He was fixing to walk out of the restaurant until he stopped in his tracks, turned toward Asriel and suggested 'hey, kid, i just got to thinking. my brother is a huge human hunting fanatic but he has never seen a human before. so i figured that by seeing you it would really brighten his day, but don't worry he's pretty harmless. just watch out for blue attacks, it's easier to pretend their blue stop signs to handle them."

With that said, Sans left the restaurant without another word.  
Asriel chose to remain in the restaurant for a few moments longer to think about the offer he was given. While he wanted to get to his father as soon as possible, he didn't see the harm in helping out with a fellow monster. Sans had also told him that his brother was harmless so he wouldn't have to worry about getting killed. With his mind set, the young monster figured he might as well help and left the restaurant.

But once outside, he realized that Sans never did told him where his brother was. With a sigh of frustration, Asriel decided he would move on since there was nothing he could do without information. But before he could even take a single step, someone had collided into him, knocking him to the ground.

"OH I AM SO SORRY! HERE LET ME HELP YOU UP! I WAS IN A RUSH LOOKING FOR MY LAZY BROTHER SANS." a voice loudly yelled.

Asriel's red eyes widened upon hearing this as he felt two hands scoop underneath his arms and lift him back on his feet. The young monster lifted up his head to be greeted with the sight of a tall skeleton wearing a red scarf, white armor that covered his shoulder joints and ribcage, black tights over his arms, spine, and legs, blue shorts, and finally brown gloves and boots.

"Wait so your Sans brother?" Asriel asked in surprise.

"AH SO MY BROTHER WAS DECENT ENOUGH TO MENTION ME, THE GREAT PAPYRUS! USUALLY HE JUST MAKES SOMEKIND OF AWFUL PUN THAT I TEND TO HATE." the skeleton replied in a happy tone but then groaned near the end of the sentence when he recalled his brother's puns.

The young monster smiled slightly, fortunate to have fate smile upon him.

With his mind set, he said "Oh well, I'm a human."

When Asriel said this, Papyrus gasped happily and he slapped both of his hands on the sides of his skull. He couldn't believe that after all that time he had finally got to see his first human. Unable to contain his excitement he scooped up Asriel into his arms tightly, only to drop him later when he remembered that his goal was to capture humans, not act friendly to them.

"WELL, HUMAN, IT IS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS' DUTY TO CAPTURE YOU AND DELIVER YOU TO UNDYNE. I'LL BECOME SO POPULAR, POPULAR, POPULAR! BUT FIRST I MUST DEFEAT YOU IN BATTLE TO TRULY BE GLORIOUS, BUT WE MUSTN'T FIGHT IN TOWN. I AM AFTERALL A SKELETON WITH STANDARDS. SO WE'LL FIGHT BY THE RIVER INSTEAD. NYEH HEH HEH!" he exclaimed before he took of in a flash while laughing.

Asriel couldn't help but giggle to himself as he followed Papyrus. He had to admit he found the skeleton to be quite enjoyable and had already grown pretty fond of him despite only knowing him for a few seconds. He walked out of the town of Snowdin and sure enough, there Papyrus was waiting for him by the river. Deciding to continue playing up the act, Asriel got into a fighting stance as Chara's soul once more appeared in front of his chest.  
Papyrus laughed in joy as he summoned a bunch of bones and sent them flying toward the young monster.

Asriel dodged the many bones, laughing while he did so due to having fun.  
Papyrus though didn't understand this and thought he was laughing to mock him. Deciding to change things up a bit, the skeletons summoned light blue bones and sent them flying toward the child. But much to his annoyance, Asriel managed to stand completely still and let the bones phase right through him since the light blue attacks could only hurt things that were moving. With his eye sockets narrowed and a sly grin on his face. Papyrus ended up making his hand engulfed in an orange aura.

Asriel gasped when without warning, Chara's soul turned blue and his body was engulfed in a blue aura, much like the one he was in when Sans levitated him with his magic.

"NYEH HEH HEH! WHO'S LAUGHING NOW HUMAN, I AM, FOR I, PAPYRUS, HAVE MADE YOU BLUE AND WHEN YOUR BLUE, YOU BECOME MUCH HEAVIER AND CAN NO LONGER DODGE SO EASILY!" the skeleton laughed in victory.

The young monster tried to jump to dodge the incoming bones but unfortunately his foot got caught on one, prompting him to yelp as he fell face first into the snow.  
Papyrus froze in worry, fearing that he may have unintentionally killed the human but was immediately relieved when Asriel lifted up his head with a huge grin still plastered on his face. This confused the skeleton deeply since he believed the child should be quivering in fear at his greatness into of constantly giggling.

"What else can you do, Papyrus?" Asriel asked, awakening the skeleton from his thoughts.

"THAT IS AN EXCELLENT QUESTION HUMAN! FOR I WILL NOW SHOW YOU MY SUPER SPECIAL ATTACK!" Payprus proclaimed happily.

He tried to summon his bones but much to his confusion, the bone never did appear. He turned his head to try to figure out the problem, prompting his mouth to drop open when he saw a small white dog chewing on the bone for his special attack. He tried yelling at the dog while demanding for it to bring back his special attack but much to his annoyance the dog slowly backed away with the bone still in its mouth. In an attempt to get it back, Papyrus lunged for the dog, but the dog managed to scamper away with the bone, causing Papyrus to land in a giant snow pile where only his legs were sticking off.

"YOU WIN THIS ROUND, MUTT, BUT I, PAPYRUS, WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!" the skeleton proclaimed with his yell muffled due to his mouth being full of snow.

Asriel couldn't help but burst into laughter from the scene he had witnessed but immediately did his best to quiet down when he saw the skeleton manage to pull himself out of the snow pile.

"FINE SINCE I CANNOT USE MY SPECIAL ATTACK, HERE'S A TOTALLY NORMAL ATTACK." Papyrus said with a disappointed sigh.

Without warning he gestured out his hand and sent a huge line of bones toward Asriel.  
The young monster did his best to dodge the bones, but unfortunately he was unable to jump high enough to avoid the bones. He squeezed his eyes shut as the blue heart floating over his chest ended up forming many cracks on it.  
Papyrus gasped when he saw this and quickly stopped his attacks, allowing the young monster to collapse on the ground. Without hesitation he ran over and picked the child up by his arms.

"HUMAN, SAY SOMETHING, I WASN'T TRYING TO KILL YOU! I ONLY WANTED TO CAPTURE YOU FOR UNDYNE!" he begged while shaking Asriel's body franticly.

Finally much to his relief Asriel managed open his eyes and cracked a smile before replying "Well looks like you got me, Papyrus. That battle was pretty fun, if you don't mind maybe we can do it again some time, but maybe just without the whole almost killing me."

Papyrus was stunned as he stated "NO ONE BESIDES SANS HAS EVER COMPLIMENTED MY BATTLE TECHNIQUES! IT MAKES ME SO PLEASE THAT YOU SEE GREATNESS THAT THE GREAT PAPYRUS SEES AS WELL!"

Asriel released a small chuckle before responding "Hey, what are friends for?"

Papyrus smiled back; he didn't care anymore if he was suppose to capture the human. He was glad that he found someone that he found someone that thought of him as great.  
Asriel smiled one last time before passing out in the skeleton's arms.

It was a while before the young monster finally reopened his eyes to discover himself lying on a dog bed with a blanket covering him. He turned his head in different directions, noticing that he seemed to be inside a wooden shed with wooden bars that were so wide that anyone could simply walk through them. When he got out of the dog bed, his hand managed to land on a piece of paper. Curious, Asriel picked up the paper discovering it was note from Papyrus that informed him he was put in his makeshift cell since he had no other place to put him and that he had healed him of his injuries.

The young monster couldn't help but smile at the note, but his happiness immediately disappeared when he heard a familiar laugh. With his body shaking in fear, Asriel slowly turned around to see none other than the Flower Child sitting in the corner with her legs neatly folded as she sorted through the different flowers in her basket and her unnerving and psychotic smile painted on her face.

Once the Flower Child managed to select one of the flowers she was sorting through, she lifted her up her head and giggled before asking "Hello again, Asriel. Did you miss me?"


	3. I Know your Secret

Chapter 3

Asriel clenched his fists tightly before demanding "What are doing here?"

"I thought I made it clear I would be watching you. I saw your little battle with Papyrus and saw how you almost died to him. Honestly I was so disappointed, you are aware that any other monster would have killed you and taken that soul you continue to carry. You won't make it far if you continue with this foolish mercy nonsense." the Flower Child answered with a small hum.

"You're wrong, mercy isn't nonsense and are you telling me that you would gladly slaughter a kind soul like Papyrus?" the young monster replied, angry that the strange girl didn't care for life.

But as soon as he uttered those words, much to his surprise, the Flower Child froze. He stared in confusion as her body shuddered a bit, almost as if she was trying to fight back tears. Asriel grew worried when the child before him remained silent until partially to his relief the girl's familiar psychotic laugh rang through the air as her hand clutched tightly around the stem of her flower.

"I thought I made it clear that it's killed or be killed in this world. It doesn't matter how many nice things you do, in the end reality is cruel and beats you down every chance it gets. I guess if you had a similar experience, you would share my mindset, but unfortunately fate doesn't seem to want that." the Flower Child said before slowly standing up.

Asriel did his best to hide away the small amount of fear he felt as he stepped away from the girl as she walked past him.  
The Flower Child was fixing to leave the shed until she stopped in her tracks and turned her head toward the young monster with her psychotic and unnerving grin replaced with a small sad smile.  
This confused Asriel deeply since she never once showed any kind of emotions such as sadness and remorse. It made him wonder if she was even capable of controlling her emotions or if she was in control the whole time and his words was truly the first thing she found sad in her life.

"By the way, prepare your taste buds." the girl muttered quietly before leaving the shed, leaving behind a still confused Asriel.

The Flower Child released a breath she wasn't even aware she was holding once she stepped outside into the freezing cold air of Snowdin. But before she could even take a step, she saw the surroundings of the snow covered town freeze and grow dark. Upon seeing this, a dark laugh emitted from her throat before she turned around to see none other than Sans standing before her with his hands stuffed in his pockets and right pupil was gone but his left glowed blue with magic.

"look, I'm only going to say this once, i want you to leave the kid alone." the skeleton said with his voice laced with anger.

"We both know you wouldn't do that, Sans. After all you know about the other timelines, we both know how these events were birthed." the young girl replied.

"i'll do what I have to, it doesn't matter who you use to be. you're not that person anymore." Sans threatened.

The Flower Child let another laugh escape her mouth except this time it was mixed with a choked sob. Her head lifted up and her eyes glanced up to the sky has her hand tightened around the flower she held, almost to the point of crushing it.

"I know, Sans, my mind is too fractured to be that person, a fate that I have to accept." she replied.

Then without another word, the Flower Child disappeared in a flash of red light.  
Once the child was gone, Sans sighed as he ran his boney fingers over his skull, forcing his blue pupil to disappear and change back to normal. The skeleton remained silent as he stuffed his hands back in his pockets put on his uncaring and lazy persona once more. He didn't know why the situation with the Flower Child bothered him so much when it came to other timelines he had simply had given up, not seeing the point in striving for a goal when everything would rewind back to the beginning in the end.

 _"It's been the same thing for every timeline. So why is it that I care now?"_ he thought to himself.

Sans was awakened from his thoughts when he heard a door open up. Much to his surprise he saw Asriel cautiously poking his head out of the shed door, looking around for any signs of the Flower Child. He couldn't help but snicker at the sight, happy to see at least the young monster got to experience joy in his life since he was very aware of his fate in the other timelines. All of the sudden, the two were both startled by Papyrus slamming the front door open with a plate of spaghetti in his hand.

"HUMAN, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE BROUGHT YOU MY SPECIAL MADE SPAGHETTI! TRULY ONLY A SKILLED CHEF SUCH AS MYSELF COULD MAKE SUCH A MARVELOUS DISH!" the skeleton proclaimed.

But when he turned toward Asriel, his mouth dropped wide open because he no longer saw a human, he now instead saw a young monster.

"WHAT, YOU WERE A MONSTER THIS WHOLE TIME?" he exclaimed.

Asriel blinked in confusion for a few seconds until he remembered how the Flower Child told him monsters could see him for what he truly was when he opened up his heart to them. With this realization he lowered his head and fully opened the shed door, completely revealing his true form. He made up a lie by claiming how he heard Sans mention how he had never seen another human so he used illusion magic to make himself look like a human in order to cheer him up. Much to the young monster's happiness, Papyrus believed his story.

"YOU DID ALL THAT FOR ME?! YOU TRULY ARE THE GREATEST FRIEND, I, PAPYRUS COULD ASK FOR... WELL NEXT TO THE BRILLANT UNDYNE OF COURSE." Papyrus replied, taking a pause for a few seconds and smiling nervously upon recalling his idol.

"you got to admit kid, you're pretty good actor." Sans commented with a grin.

"BUT STILL FOR BEING SUCH A KIND FRIEND, YOU DO DESERVE TO TASTE MY FRIENDSHIP SPAGHETTI!" the tall skeleton exclamation before dropping the plate into Asriel's hands.

The young monster stared at the plate, recalling the Flower Girl's advice before she left. Figuring that she was only pulling another one of her tricks, Asriel grabbed ahold of the fork and scooped up a bunch of the spaghetti and stuffed it in his mouth. But when he did this, he immediately regretted not taking the young girl's advice because the moment the pasta hit his tongue, his tastebuds were overwhelmed with an extremely bitter taste that prompting the his face to scrunch up.

"THAT FACE, TRULY IT IS THE FACE OF SOMEONE WHO SEES THE BRILLANCE IN MY COOKING AND ADORES THE DIVINE TASTES! NYEH, IT'S TOO OVERWHELMING!" Papyrus yelled in happiness before running around the town of Snowdin while laughing in joy.

Seeing the skeleton was gone, Asriel gagged as he shoved the plate into Sans' hands with his tongue stuck out, trying desperately to get rid of the bitter taste.  
Seeing the plate was in his hands, Sans decided to sample a small amount of his brother's spaghetti.

"heh, actually this isn't too bad. definitely an improvement over his last attempts." the skeleton commented.

Once he finally got rid of the taste off of his mouth, Asriel spoke up "Well since know you both know I'm really a monster. I suppose I can tell you the truth that my name is actually Asriel, in other words I'm the long lost prince."

Upon hearing this, Sans rolled his pupils before replying "kid, i always knew who you were from the moment i saw you. i basically did a thing called playing dumb, i knew you were the prince straight from the beginning even if you looked like a human at the time."

Asriel's eyes widened in both shock and surprise at this discovered revelation; he couldn't believe that the skeleton managed to recognize him despite Chara's Soul causing him to appear as a human. He knew no other monster figured out his identity so easily, leaving him to wonder how the skeleton before him managed to easily figure it out. But when he thought about the skeleton's mysterious knowledge more and more, a shocking thought entered his mind.

"If you know about my true identity, then you already know about the Flower Child." Asriel stated.

Sans' pupils disappeared and his hands clenched tightly upon hearing this. He didn't want to really talk about the girl who obsessively plays with flowers all because of the simple fact he was stuck with the knowledge on how she had came to be. A knowledge that he hated and wished to forget but unfortunately he was trapped with the memory that no one but he and the Flower Child knew.

He remained silent for a few moments before finally replying "yeah, i know about her. i advise staying away from her at all costs her mind isn't stable at all."

"I kind of figured with how she kept claiming that it's killed or be killed in this world." the young monster said before taking a few moments of silence before asking "Sans, how did she become the way she did?"

The skeleton released a loud sigh before answering "let's just say, she thought she could change fate and in the end she ended up paying the ultimate price. i'm leaving it at that. besides you don't really have time standing around and talking to me when you still need to go to your dad and show him your alive."

Asriel's head lowered a bit in sadness, remembering how he made it his goal to show his father he was alive and convince him to stop slaughtering humans and collecting their souls so he may shatter the barrier that separates them from humanity. With a sigh, the young monster began his long trek once more, not bothering to look back at the skeleton behind him. But because of this, he failed to see the frown that formed on Sans face for a few brief seconds before he hid it away behind a smile. Asriel kept trudging though the snow, watching as it got less and less deeper the further along the road he traveled.

It wasn't long until finally the snowy path was gone, leading into the watery lands known as Waterfall. The young monster's red eyes glanced up at the entrance to the dark caves, his heart growing nervous about his eventual encounter with his father. But because of this, he failed to see a dark shadow begin looming over him. With warning, Asriel found himself slammed to the ground, prompting him to cry out in pain. He was flipped onto his back to discover a knight in large armor with yellow glowing eyes and holding a blue glowing spear in their hand while using their other to pin him to the ground by his neck.

"So a seventh human finally shows themselves, your soul will do nicely to break the barrier." a rough sounding female voice emerged from the knight.

Asriel choked and gasped as he frantically clawed at his throat, trying to get the knight to release the death grip she had on him. But unfortunately his struggles earned him with a spear pointed very dangerously close to his chest, right above where Chara's soul rest.

"Now to claim your soul and monster kind will finally be free!" the knight proclaimed.

But before she could stab her spear into Asriel's chest, out from the tall grass emerged a young male monster that looked like a yellow lizard except he had no arms and he wore a yellow and orange striped jumped out of the tall grass with an excited grin plastered on his face.

"Oh this is so awesome, I get to see the Undyne battle a human!" the monster kid exclaimed happily.

"Kid, what did I tell you about following me! Ugh, am I going to have to call your parents again?!" Undyne shouted angrily, intentionally releasing her grip on her victim.

Taking advantage of her distraction, Asriel quickly scampered out from underneath the knight before quickly getting back on his feet and took off running. His heart raced in fear when he heard the knight yell in rage before creating a bunch of glowing spears and rapidly firing at him. The young monster weave back and forth doing all in his power to avoid being hit by one of the spears. Fortunately he managed to run far off enough that he spotted a small crevice in the cave wall. Without any seconds thoughts, Asriel quickly squeezed into the crevice and held his breath, trying his best to calm down when he heard the sound of metal boots smashing against the ground.

Undyne snarled as she looked all around the area, armed with her spear, trying to find any sign of the human that fled from her. Unfortunately for her, she failed to spot Asriel hiding in the crevice and with a yell of anger she stormed off.

 _"You may escaped this time, human, but mark my words, I will track you down again."_ she thought to herself as she traversed deeper into the caves.

Once the knight was gone, Asriel sighed in relief before slowly slipping out of the crevice he hid in. He wasn't expecting to encounter a monster that was so dead set on killing him after he had nice encounters with his mother and Papyrus.

But before he could take a single step, his body froze when he heard a voice echo in his mind _"Let me take control, Asriel. I promise I'll make sure she won't stand in our way."_

The young monster squeezed his red eyes shut tightly as he did his best to block out the voice in his mind. He didn't even had to guess to know that the voice was Chara's soul speaking to him, just like she had been able to do ever since he first absorbed her soul. He could sense her angry and aggravation with his choice to ignore her as he continued making his way deeper into the caves of Waterfall. He didn't care how much she tried to convince him, he remembered how one he absorbed her soul, she tried to lock away his consciousness and claim his body as her own, even managed to partially succeeding since he was unable to prevent her from carrying her dead body across the barrier.

 _"I can't believe you're still holding that over my head. Ugh, sometimes you can be such an idiot, Asriel."_ Chara's soul bitterly remarked.

"Why would I trust a person who betrayed my trust. It makes it even worse that I can't even remember what happened after we crossed the barrier! And now because of you, no monster knows who I am unless I manage to open my heart to them!" he hissed back in anger.

 _"Uh, you're forgetting how that Flower Child pointed out that they would also see your true form upon death. If you ask me, I think killing them is much better than that silly mercy nonsense your trying to do."_ the soul stated.

Asriel snarled in anger, once again trying to block out the soul's voice. He knew in the past he would be horrified at the thought of shunning the one person that was like a sibling to him but he also knew that was before Chara betrayed him by using his kindness and love for her against him.

 _"Fine ignore me, and to think I was going to help you with your little amnesia problem concerning the surface."_ Chara huffed.

When the young monster heard this he immediately stopped in his tracks; he couldn't believe that the soul of his adoptive sibling was able to recall the events he could not. As much as he didn't want to trust Chara, he did want answers such as how he managed to survive against the humans and why he had been missing from the Underground for so long. With a bit of nervousness and hesitation in his voice, the young monster proceeded to ask the soul what the had recalled about the surface.  
If Chara still was alive, a sly and taunting smirk would had formed on her face, happy that Asriel had taken her bait.

 _"Of oh course, Asriel, I'll tell you all that I remember what happened on surface after we both crossed the barrier. It still such a shame only I can remember such a life changing event, well that is if I still had a life. Anyways back to the point, I'll tell you everything that happened if you do one little favor for me."_ she taunted.

Despite the bad feeling that began to wash over his entire body, the young monster asked "What do you want me to do?"

 _"Well it's quite simple, give me control of your body with absolutely no resistance and I will restore that piece of memory you so desperately desire."_ she answered.

Asriel closed his eyes deep in thought, while he didn't trust Chara, especially after how she stated how she wanted to kill everything in her path, he still did want to know what happened on the surface so he could finally piece together what had happened to him during all those years ago.

 _"Well, Asriel, I'm waiting. What is your answer?"_ Chara asked in an annoyed tone.

The young monster took in a deep sigh before replying "I..."


	4. Hoi

Chapter 4

"I really don't think I can agree to that deal." he replied.

 _"What?!"_ Chara shrieked in anger, enraged that the young monster refused to accept her offer.

"While I really want to know what happened, it isn't worth releasing you. Chara, I've known you for too long and I know the second I let you have control you'll go on a killing spree. The answers aren't worth innocent lives." Asriel stated in a stern tone.

For a few moments he grew confused when the girl's soul didn't reply to him, but within a few seconds he jolted when he heard a loud scream echo throughout his mind. The young monster gasped as his heart felt like it nearly stopped prompting him to fall to the ground and smash his head against the rocky ground. Pain coursed through his skull as his surroundings faded to darkness and his consciousness slipped away. His body lay on the ground, unmoving for a few seconds until finally he sat up. But when he opened his eyes, his typical kind red eyes were no longer there. Instead were the cold and bloodthirsty eyes of a killer.

The young monster chuckled darkly to himself as he commented "Ah poor and pathetic, Asriel, you were always easy to startle. Now with you out cold, I'm free to control your body."

Chara couldn't help but snicker at her success, growing excited at the thought of using Asriel to kill everything in her path. But before she could even take a single step, three vines covered in thorns burst out of the ground, blocking off her path. She was confused by this until she heard a familiar giggle. Chara spun around and much to her shock and anger, she was greeted with the sight of the Flower Child holding out her hand in front of her with it engulfed in a red aura and with red energy seemed to flow to the sides of her head from the shadow of her hat.

"Hey you're that annoying kid that stopped me when I tried to control Asriel's body the first time back in Snowdin! You appeared out of no where and prevented me from escaping the shed and killing everyone there! Why are you so insistent on stopping me when you only want to kill as much as I do?" Chara asked with a hint of a growl in her voice.

The Flower Child let out a small psychotic giggle before she answered "Oh don't worry, there's no denying I do want to see death, but not from you. I'm fully aware of how far your determination stretches. To see every living thing die and see the entire world crumble and die out of hatred for how you believed you were hurt and betrayed by life, both on the surface and in the underground."

Chara clenched her teeth tightly and clenched her fist; she didn't want to admit but it frightened her how much the Flower Child knew about her. She didn't understand how a strange being knew about her hatred against life itself. She never told any monster how she was constantly beaten by an abusive human father and how no one would help her, despite hearing her constant cries and screams at night. Out of grief she fled to Mt. Ebott to commit suicide, hoping to end her misery but ended up discovering a power that she considered to be the answer to getting revenge on the hateful humans she despises, only for Asriel to stop her from committing her deed, leading her to believe monsters were just as terrible as humans if one were to protect such despicable creatures.

Pushing her thoughts to the side, Chara snarled "I don't know how you knew that but it won't matter since I'll kill you like the rest!"

With determination burning in her soul, she summoned fire in her hands. She unleashed a battle cry as she blasted the fire at her opponent but much to her shock the Flower Child dodged the attack with easy.  
The white-hatted girl grinned psychotically as she snapped her fingers and at that moment, the heart floating in front of Asriel's chest turned blue.

"Wait that's..." Chara exclaimed in shock as she felt Asriel's body become extremely heavy.

"Do you like?" the Flower Child interrupted with a happy hum, "I learned it from my daddy. Or at least he would still be my daddy if my mind wasn't so fractured. Of course then there was the fact that was only in another timeline. Oh well, what can you do?"

Without warning she summoned her bullets and blasted them at the young monster.  
Chara grinded her teeth as she did her best to dodge the bullets, but much to her anger due to the gravity magic she wasn't able to dodge very swiftly, causing her to get damaged by the bullets multiple times. She inhaled sharply as she watched many cracks form in the blue heart. Gathering up her determination, she immediately lunged at the Flower Child. A victorious grin formed on her face when she succeeded at tackling and pinning her opponent to the ground. But that grin immediately faded when much to her confusion the child began to laugh psychotically.

"You Idiot!" the Flower Child said in a venomous tone before she jabbed her hand in front of Asriel's face and blasted it with strong magic.

Chara screamed out in pain as Asriel's body was sent flying and smashed against the ground. She struggled to hang onto her consciousness by using her determination, but it wasn't enough to prevent her from slipping away into darkness.  
The Flower Child hummed in satisfaction as she sat up and calmly dusted the dirt off of her white coat. Once done she glanced over at Asriel's unconscious body. She continued humming as she stood up before walking over and kneeling down next to the monsters body.

At that moment she heard a loud gasp. She turned her head to see none other than Monster Kid with his head poking out of the tall grass, staring at what he believed to be an unconscious human. When she saw him a small smile formed on her face, but it wasn't her typical psychotic grin. Instead it was a genuine kind smile that one would give to an old friend.

"How much did you see?" she asked.

"I heard the sounds of fighting and I managed to see you blast that human that had you pinned to the ground in the face." Monster Kid answered in a slightly nervous tone, feeling uneasy at the sight of the strange girl.

The Flower Child was pleased that the young monster hadn't heard her small conversation with Chara before she continued "Well since you're here, Monster Kid, I want you to do me a favor. I want you to go help this boy get his injuries taken care of. Before you ask why, wouldn't you want to see your favorite hero Undyne battle the human at top health? If the human were to battle her at such low health, why you wouldn't even get to see the full majesty of Undyne's Spear of Justice striking down the human."

"No I want to see an epic battle from Undyne!" he instantly shouted, not realizing that the mysterious girl not only knew his name but also managed to know how much of fan he was of the royal knight, "And I know just the place to take him!"

Asriel groaned as he slowly blinked his eyes opened, flinching a bit when his head throbbed in pain. He wondered how long he had been unconscious since his last memory was of him rejecting Chara's deal before everything became a mixed blur. Remembering the girl's soul, Asriel was surprised by the unusual silence emitting from it since he knew his adoptive sister wasn't one to back down due to her strong determination.

But that surprise was quickly replaced with another when he heard a voice next to him loudly greet "Hoi!"

The young monster yelled out as he quickly sat up, finding himself surrounded by strange female creatures that almost looked like white dogs with black hair on their heads and wearing blue sweaters.

"Temmie wat human slep! Human sow cute!" the creature squealed.

Asriel remained silent, his eyes widened as he watched the creature's arm stretch up to his head before constantly petting it. He wasn't quite sure what to say to the creature since he had never seen them before and he was slightly freaked out by how much she was petting him.  
The creature kept petting him until the one of the other creatures jumped up on his head and tilted down where she could stare at his face.

"Yoi don seem human to Temmie! Yoi smells ward!" the creature commented.

In attempt to at least try to communicate with the creatures, Asriel asked "Are you all named Temmie?"

The creature nodded her head rapidly before answering "We Temmie grate race! We hive grate history!"

The young monster did not reply but instead blinked silently, unsure how to respond. Finally to his relief he saw from the corner of his eye approach Monster Kid who was carrying bags of Temmie Flakes.

"Sorry I brought you here but this is the only place I know that's safe since Undyne never does set foot in Temmie Village due to the Temmies." he said before handing Asriel the bags.

Asriel was stunned at the fact when Monster Kid explained to him that he discovered him unconscious and he brought him to the village at the request of a strange girl carrying a basket of flowers who had defeated him in battle. Confusion filled his mind at how the Flower Child managed to arrive at the scene when he figured that Chara had mostly likely taken over his body while he was unconscious but didn't allow her to go on her killing spree. He couldn't understand how a girl who tried to kill him the moment they met went out of her way to stop someone who shared her killing views and even got him help instead of choosing to finish the job.

While he was still wary of the mysterious child, he was at least thankful that the Flower Child had stopped Chara when she did. Asriel was awakened from his thoughts when Monster Kid began urging him to quickly eat the Temmie Flakes so he could get back to full strength. He nodded in agreement but when he reached in and grabbed one of the flakes, one of the Temmies immediately jumped up and snagged the Temmie Flake into her mouth and squeal happily while she ate it, leaving the two young monsters to stare with wide eyes at the hand that no held nothing.

Meanwhile Undyne grumbled in annoyance as she walked up to the front door or her house. She had been searching for Asriel high and low but didn't manage to find him with any luck and decided to head back home in order to grab a quick drink and begin the search once more. The knight sighed as she unlocked the door to her home and removed her helmet, revealing herself to be a fish-like monster with two large fins on the sides of her head, one yellow eye while the other was covered with and eye patch, and bright red hair pulled into a long ponytail.

Undyne muttered to herself as she patted her hand along the wall, blindly trying to locate the light switch. When she found it, she flipped the switch but upon doing so she immediately yelled in surprise when she saw Sans sitting in one of the kitchen chairs with his feet propped up on the table.

"Sans, what the hell are you doing in my house?!" Undyne yelled at the top of her lungs, prompting the skeleton to jolt awake, "I expect this from Papyrus whenever he comes over for his lessons, not you!"

"i needed to talk to you about something. i saw you weren't home so i figured i would make myself comfortable, after all i had my own way of getting in." Sans replied as he propped his hands behind his head.

Upon hearing this, the knight's eye began twitching slightly before she slapped her hand against her forehead, ignoring the stinging pain caused from the metal of her armor slamming against her skin. Deciding to quickly get the discussion over with as quickly as possible Undyne made her way over to the stove and started up a batch of Golden Flower tea.

"Alright, Sans, I suggest talking to me while this tea brews because I have no time standing around to chit-chat while that human is still running around." she said in a stern tone as she leaned her back against the kitchen counter with her arms firmly folded across her chest.

The skeleton only simple shrugged his shoulders before turning around with his arms and head propped up by back of the chair.

"alright i'll cut to the chase then and you'll miss the beauty of my puns. basically there's been a girl wondering around the underground calling herself the flower child." he said.

Undyne huffed as she rolled her eye before replying "And I should care about this why?"

Sans' hands balled up into two firm fists as he continued "basically a few years ago, the same year asgore and toriel lost their child, something else happened. the result ended up shattering the girl's mind all because she was given something she was never suppose to have. because of this insanity she seeks to kill, putting many monsters in danger if they dare cross her path. what i'm saying is, if you see her pop up when you go after the human, despite what your mission is get the human away from her."

"Sans, I'm not going to save that human. We need his soul to break the barrier so we can finally be free of this place!" the knight responded in an angry tone, "Why should I save him from some poesy kid? If she kills him, then good we'll be able to obtain the seventh soul."

"just trust me on this one, it's more of that i don't want the kid to do anything she'll regret all because she can't comprehend it. she may be insane but i still remember her before that. she's a good kid who's only lost her way, that's all i'll say on the subject." he answered.

Undyne shook her head with a sigh before she heard the teapot began whistling, signifying that the tea was done. She immediately poured a cup and gulped it down; ignoring the fact the tea was so hot that it scorched her tongue. Without another word she placed her helmet back on before storming out of her house, slamming the door closed. It infuriated her that Sans suggest she save the one thing she considered to be the key to freedom. But it did worry her when Sans explained the Flower Child's lack of sanity which lead her to killing. The last thing she wanted was for monsters to be slaughtered left and right all because of an insane girl.

 _"Even if I don't want to save the human, it probably would be best if I don't bump into Flower Child. There's no telling what she'll do with such a broken mind."_ she thought to herself.

Back with Asriel, he finally managed to fully recover from his injuries and was now walking through Waterfall with Monster Kid. He could tell how nervous the young monster was since in his eyes he was helping a human rather than the long lost prince. In attempt to make him feel more comfortable, Asriel gave him a small smile which unfortunately only prompted him to quickly look away. The white-furred monster frowned at this before slowly lifting up his head and staring at the rocky ceiling above him with bright glowing gems. He remembered how his father told him many monsters wished upon those gems, hoping one day to reach the surface and see the real night stars.

He inhaled deeply as he closed his eyes, enjoying the peaceful and quiet surroundings. But as he did this, his mind trailed off and vision entered his mind.

_Asriel sat on top of a grassy hill with his legs curled up against his chest. His red eyes stared sadly up at the sky as he did his best to fight back tears that were threatening to pour forth. At that moment he heard the sound of footsteps approaching him. The young monster twisted his torso back to see a human woman with long brown hair and hazel eyes, wearing a red dress smile as she slowly sat down next to his, digging her currently bare feet into the cool grass._

_"Mind if I join you young one?" she asked._

_Asriel shook his head in reply before glancing up at the stars once more. His body stiffened when he felt the woman's hand gently lay on his back and began rubbing it in a slow and comforting pace._

_"I know you still feel guilty for those events when you arrived to our village that fateful day. But you must understand, our village understands their foolishness and know the price they ended up paying for acting so hastily. They should have known better than assume you killed that child." she said in a soothing voice._

_The young monster dug his fingers into his legs while exclaiming with a choked sob "But it is my fault! If I had never arrived with Chara's body, the villagers wouldn't have thought I had killed her and you wouldn't have lost..."_

_He was unable to finish his sentence before he broke into a sob, constantly crying out apologies. Without with any second thoughts he flung himself into the woman's arms and buried his face in her chest with tears streaming down his cheeks. Asriel felt the woman's arms tighten around him and her body shake slightly; he could tell she was doing her best from bursting into tears as well. Guilt filled him as he recalled how she decided to take him after that fateful day and had been caring for him ever since. He assumed she wanted something to distract her from the grief she suffered that day._

_The young monster sniffed a few times before glancing up at the stars, partially wishing the other monsters got to see their shining and shimmering beauty once more._

_"You know." he finally spoke in a slightly shaky tone, "Back in the underground, monsters found shining rocks in the ceiling that reminded them of stars. It became a tradition to wish on them because they said humans wished on stars. Is that true?"_

_The woman glanced up at the stars before answering "Yes it's true. You know if humanity were to look past their foolish fears, they would have seen that monsters are not so different from us humans. We all share the same hopes and dreams."_

_And with that said the two remained silent as they continued gazing at the stars._

All of the sudden, Asriel was awakened from his strange memory when he heard a voice yell "Ha, I found you human!"

The young monster gasped in fear when he saw Undyne summoning multiple glowing spears around her body. Within an instant he immediately made a run for it, dashing past monster kid and successfully dodged the spears. His heart throbbed in panic when he saw Undyne chase after him while still constantly firing spears, forcing him to dodge and weave in order to avoid getting hurt.  
Monster kid watched the two run before a huge grin of excitement formed on his face and he quickly chased after them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was a little tough to write Temmie's dialogue all due to the fact I had to really resist the urge to correct words I was purposely typing wrong.


	5. Battle with a Knight

Chapter 5

Asriel panted as he ran as fast as he could; his heart racing in fear when a few spears manage to whiz by his face by a few centimeters. He glanced back to see Undyne yelling in rage a she created another spear in her hand, bound determined to end his life. He kept running until much to his horror he was cornered in a dead end. His entire body shook in fear as he slowly turned around to face his pursuer. He tried to tear his gaze away from the hateful glowing yellow eye focused on him but find himself too panicked to do so.

Swallowing up his fear Asriel said "Listen to me, you'll be making a mistake by killing me!"

Upon hearing this Undyne let out a snort of laughter before replying "Don't try to play games with me human. Your soul is the key to the freedom of monsterkind! The humans will pay for what they done."

"But there's kind humans too, that doesn't warrant death." the young monster stated with a frown.

"A typical plea from human scum. Now enough of your lies, it's time we end this." she snarled.

Without another word a green aura surrounded her spear and she swiped it, cause the aura to blast at her opponent.  
Asriel cried when the aura pierced his chest; his red eyes glanced down in time to see Chara's soul floating in front of his chest once more except it had turned green and green glowing chains had clasped themselves around his ankles. He was confused by this until he heard Undyne gloat that was her frozen magic and that so long as it was in affect he would be unable to runaway.

"I could simply just throw my spear at you and kill you this instant, but I'm an honorable warrior." Undyne stated as she created a spear and tossed it to the young monster.

Asriel managed to successfully catch the spear in his hands as he stared in confusion. He was shocked that Undyne was willing to kill him when he was fleeing from her earlier but now she had him trapped, she was willing to give him a fighting chance. Seeing no other way out of the situation, he inhaled deeply as he held the spear in front of him in a protective stance.  
Undyne nodded in approval and within a few seconds she created a group of spears and sent them flying toward her opponent in four different directions. She grinned as she watched the young monster twist and turn his body the best as he could with his legs chained in place, managing to successfully block each of the incoming spears.

"Ah man, Alphys was right. Humans are great in fights, now let's see if you can handle faster attacks." the knight laughed.

Asriel swallowed a lump that formed in his throat as he desperately kept blocking the incoming attacks.  
But as the battle continued on, unaware to the two monsters, watching the battle from afar was none other than the Flower Child. She smiled as she watched the fight play out before as she held a small teacup in her hands. She was distracted by the fight until she felt a small gust of wind brush past her.

The Flower Child released a small giggle before commenting "Shouldn't you be worrying about your little telescope prank, Sans?"

Sans flinched slightly when he heard the girl spoke; he wasn't very surprised that she was aware of his presence. He raised a brow as she watched the girl pat her gloved hand on the empty spot next to her. With a small sigh he sat down next to the young child and focused his attention on the fight.

"you know if you get involved i will stop you, after all i have seen glimpses into the other timelines where other sans were forced to break their promises." the skeleton stated.

The Flower Child did not reply but instead simply hummed in response before taking a sip of her tea.

"It's pretty amazing that despite my mind being so shattered, I still remember her recipe for Golden Flower Tea. Of course I could never make it as good as her, but sadly I will never get to taste her tea again." she muttered to herself.

Sans remained silent at the child's confession. He still couldn't wrap his mind why he cared so deeply for the child. Despite having no memories he could sense that at one point he felt like a father to the child but he believed those feelings were long gone with the typical reset. He lost hope long ago of attaching development to anything but his brother because it seemed no matter how much he desperately tried, they were all trapped in an endless loop with no escape, knowing that everything they worked for could be stripped away in a blink of an eye with no memory of it ever happening.

The Flower Child noticed the skeleton's disturbance and commented "Don't worry, Sans. I'm only here to watch Asriel's little fight for my amusement, who knows what might happen."

The skeleton flinched when he heard the girl's psychotic laughter as he directed his attention back to the fight with his hands stuffed deeper into his pockets, reminding himself the girl beside him was no longer the girl he once knew.

Back at the battle, Asriel was growing tired from blocking all the attacks while Undyne was growing more and more frustrated that she hadn't laid a single scratch on her opponent. Out of frustration she created a group of spears, ready to rain them down upon the young monster. But as she did this she was unaware that she lost focus of her frozen magic, causing the glowing green chains to vanish in thin air.  
Seeing that his legs was finally free, Asriel immediately took advantage of the opening, dropping his spear on the ground, and dashing past the stunned and confused knight.

Undyne blinked in confusion before immediately shaking her head when it dawned on her what she witnessed. Realizing her opponent was fleeing from battle, the warrior yelled in rage before dashing after Asriel, unaware of Monster Kid still trailing behind her with an excited grin on his face.  
Asriel kept running until he found himself approaching a bridge. His red eyes lit up with happiness because he knew that bridge led to the exit of Waterfall and he would be much closer to reaching his father. But unfortunately before he could even take another step, one of Undyne's spears slammed into the ground in front of him. The young monster felt his breath get caught in his throat as he immediately turned around to see an angry Undyne.

"How dare you flee from our battle! The humans I've seen in anime always fight in the death! Be like what you're supposed to be like!" she yelled.

Asriel tilted his head in confusion upon hearing this, wondering why the female monster was shouting about a strange thing he had never heard of. He was awakened from his thought when he heard Monster Kid proclaim loudly that he would defeat him for Undyne in order to impress her. Before Asriel could even utter a single word; his eyes widen in fear when Monster Kid ended up tripping and tumbling off of the side of the bridge.

"Help me!" the yellow monster screamed out as he did his best to cling onto the edge of the bridge.

Without any second thoughts and determination filling him, Asriel immediately ran to the young monster and threw himself onto his stomach, his hands clenching tightly on Monster Kid's striped shirt. But unfortunately when he started pulling Monster Kid to safety, the board he was on snapped, resulting both of them to start plummeting to the ground at top speeds. Asriel sucked in a sharp breath as the wind whipped all around his body, his heart racing at the thought of his life ending without even getting the chance to face his father.

But at that moment, much to Asriel's surprise he felt someone wrap their arm tightly around his torso. He tilted his head up to see none other than Undyne who also had Monster Kid in her grasp.  
Undyne hissed in pain the moment she felt her legs make contact with the ground and was greeted the sound of a loud snap. With in an instant she released her grip on the two children as her body crumbled to the ground.

"Undyne!" Monster Kid cried in worry as he ran over to the knight.

The female monster took in deep breaths as she slowly reached up and pulled off her helmet, pushing a few stray bangs of her red hair out of her eye.

"Kid, I told you to stay away." she grunted as she pushed herself into a sitting position.

Asriel stared in shock as she watched Undyne peel off her armor so she could examine how badly she was wounded. He was surprised that she had saved his life when before she was willing to kill him. He knew she could have easily allowed him to fall to his death and she would have been able to obtain the human soul he carried. Wanting to get answers he crawled over to the knight just in time to see her remove the armor to reveal her blood stain jeans.  
Undyne clenched her teeth tightly as she pulled off her red boot and rolled up her pant leg to reveal her leg was broken and the bone had cut through her leg, prompting large amounts of blood to pour from her wound.

"You're hurt." Asriel stated with a frown.

"Yeah so what?" the knight immediately replied in a frustrated tone.

Asriel flinched from the female monster's tone but he did not move from his spot. He watched in concern as Undyne tried to focus her magic to heal her wound but the immense pain running through her body kept repeatedly making her lose focus.

Deciding to at least repay her for saving his life, the goat-like monster spoke up "Here let me heal you."

"Don't be ridiculous! The only humans that could do magic was the seven magicians and I know you're certainly not one of them." Undyne snapped before once again trying to heal her leg once more

Asriel narrowed his eyes as without warning he smacked away the female monster's hands and engulfed his own in a light blue glow.  
Undyne's yellow eye widened in shock because in her view rather than seeing he fellow monster using magic she instead saw a human boy using magic, a feat she thought to be impossible. Her thoughts her cut off when she felt the child laid his hands on her injured leg and her legs began to glow. She squeezed her eye shut as she felt her bone shifting and wounds sealing closed. By the time she reopened her eye, Asriel had moved away his hands and her legs was fully healed.

"Wow you healed her! You actually can use magic!" Monster Kid exclaimed in shock.

Undyne was in disbelief from this discovery. Wanting to make sure she wasn't imagining it she reached out her hand and ran it along where her wound once was, feeling only smooth scales and some blood left over.

"You actually did heal me." she muttered quietly.

"It was the least I could do for you saving my life. Speaking of which, why did you save me and don't say it was just to save Monster Kid. You could have easily caught him and let me fall to my death. So why did you save me?" Asriel replied.

Undyne sighed as she mindlessly wiped the blood on her hands off on her black tank top.

She remained silent for a few moments before answering "You could have easily fled and allowed Monster Kid to be a distraction that I would have to deal with, guaranteeing your escape. But instead despite knowing that I was right there, you chose to try to save him, even if it meant risking your own life. It wouldn't have been right to let you die like that."

Without another word the female monster put back on her boot and rolled back down her pant leg before standing up once more.

"Come on, Monster Kid, I need to take you back to your parents." Undyne grumbled.

"But what about the human, Undyne?" Monster Kid asked.

The knight did not reply as she took a moment to stare at her former opponent. She grew confused when for brief seconds instead of seeing a human boy see saw the prince of all monsters. But when she rubbed her eye to make sure she wasn't seeing things, by the time she looked again she only saw a human boy once more. Choosing to push her confusion away, she turned her back to Asriel with a small grunt.

"I don't need to bother him right now. What's important is getting you to safety." she replied.

Asriel raised a brow in surprise at the knight's actions; he wondered if she was aware that by simply leaving him she would allow him the chance to continue his journey to see his father. While apart of him wanted to seize the opportunity given to him but the other part of him felt like talking to the knight more. After a few seconds of thought, Asriel let out a sigh before he silently followed the two monsters.  
Undyne was able to notice the young child following her but she kept directed her attention forward, figuring the human was only using the same path to get out of the canyon they had fallen in.

It wasn't long till they found themselves out of the canyon and much to her shock and anger she saw Asriel was still following her. She snarled with her teeth tightly clenched together and spun toward the young monster, directing her hateful glare toward him.

"Why are you following us?" she demanded with her voice having a hint of a growl.

"I..." Asriel started, a little nervous from the anger he sensed radiating around the monster before continuing, "I want to help walk Monster Kid home too."

Undyne was speechless from this response. She was unable to wrap the concept around her mind that the young child who was given many opportunities to escape yet he rejected every single one in favor of helping out a monster he barely knew. It made her wonder if humans were truly as despicable as she once thought. She buried those thoughts deep in her mind with the shake of her head before groaning in frustration and gesturing with her hand to follow.

The trio remained silent as they continued their trek through Waterfall until they found themselves before a house designed to look like an angry fish.

"Okay, Monster Kid, I'm going call your parents and have them pick you up here. Don't touch anything." Undyne said in a stern tone as she pulled her house keys out of her pocket and unlocked the front door.

Monster Kid could barely contain his excitement as he squealed loudly at the thought of getting to enter his hero's house.  
Asriel couldn't help but giggle at the sight but his giggling was cut short when he was suddenly knocked to the ground. He let out a small grunt upon hitting the ground before pushing himself onto his hands and knees to see an orange training dummy with angry eyes.

"You laughing at me punk?! I'm the Mad Dummy! No one laughs at me!" the dummy exclaimed loudly.

"I-I-I..." Asriel started to stutter, unsure what to say.

But he was surprise when Undyne interrupted him by replying "Ugh, for Pete's sake, MD, that just my house guest. Chill will ya?"

"No one tells the Mad Dummy to chill, fish face!" the dummy snapped back.

When she heard the last two words of Mad Dummy's sentence, the female monster narrowed her eyes before summoning a large spear in her hand. Much to her satisfaction the Dummy grumbled in anger before returning back to his original spot in her yard. She smirked before getting rid of her spear and opening up the front door, allowing the two children inside her home.

"Alright I only have one rule, no one is to enter my room. Only certain people get that privilege." Undyne stated as she slammed the door closed behind her.

While Monster Kid was geeking over the knight's different weapons, Asriel was thirsty and decided to raid Undyne's fridge in search for anything to drink. He made his way over to the kitchen and walked up to the fridge and opened the door, raising a brow when he was greeted with hot air instead of the typical cold air that's usually in a fridge. His red eyes glanced at the different selections of hot cocoa packets and strangely an unopened bottle of soda, finding no interest in the variety of selections. Then at that moment his eyes settled on a bag of golden flowers.

Asriel swallowed nervously as the memories of the Flower Child laughing psychotically while playing with her golden flower filled his mind. He was distracted by the flowers until he suddenly heard Undyne yell at him. Due to suddenly being startled, Asriel screamed loudly and quickly clutched his shirt where he could feel his heart rapidly pounding as he spun around to face the female monster glaring at him with her hands firmly placed on her hips.

"I did not give you permission to raid my fridge, human." she said in a dark and threatening tone.

Asriel took in deep breaths in an attempt to calm his panicking heart before answering "I'm sorry, I was looking for something to drink and I noticed you had a bag of golden flowers in your fridge. Why is that?"

"Oh those, I ground them up and use them as herbs for my Golden Flower Tea. See I..." she started to explain before pausing a moment to think before continuing, "On second thought, how I about I show you instead."

Without a word she reached in the fridge, grabbing the bag of flowers before firmly grasping the young monster's wrist and guiding him over to the kitchen counter.


	6. Golden Flower Tea

Chapter 6

Asriel watched in confusion as Undyne harshly swung open her kitchen cabinet doors and placed a mortar and pestle on the table with a loud slam before slamming the door close and moved on to filling up her tea kettle with water. He flinched slightly when he saw her yellow eye quickly dart a glance at him; he was still very nervous around her looks due to how many death glares he had received while she was trying to kill him. He was surprised when the female monster dumped the golden flowers in mortar and grabbed ahold of his wrist as she slapped the pestle into his hands.

"I need you to grind up those flowers to be used as herbs." she stated as she placed the tea kettle on the stove.

Asriel raised a brow in confusion before he asked "Wouldn't it be easier just to use an electric grinder?"

Undyne scoffed with a smirk and replied "Oh please, that's the easy way. Using the pestle work up the muscles in arm and you totally need it, I noticed you were slightly wimpy during our little battle."

The young monster huffed his cheeks in anger; he wanted to open his mouth to shoot back a remark but quickly backed down when he remembered how much the knight managed to frighten him with her tough attitude and threatening aura she seemed to constantly carry with her. So without a word he firmly gripped the pestle in his hand and began grinding up the flowers slowly. But much to his surprise and fear this earned him a scolding from Undyne as she shouted that he wasn't putting enough effort and needed to do it faster and stronger.

His heart raced in panic as he immediately began speeding up his actions, smashing and twisting the pestle in his hand as hard as he could in the mortar. Within seconds, much to his happiness and relief he managed to grind the flowers up into herbs. He turned toward Undyne and smiled slightly when he saw her nod her head in approval.  
Undyne remained silent as she dumped the herbs into the kettle and turned the stove on its highest setting. As they waited she tapped her fingers impatiently on the counter as she waited for the tea.

"Whoa, Undyne do you actually fight with this sword?" Monster Kid exclaimed, his words muffled due to the fact he held the handle of the giant sword in his mouth but due to its large size, he was struggling to maintain his balance.

"Hey put that back, that is not a children's toy!" Undyne yelled, as she ran over to Monster Kid and managed to snatch away the giant sword from him with ease.

Asriel couldn't help but laugh at the sight; despite her frightening personality he could see that underneath the knight mentality was a kind person that truly cared for others. His laughing ceased when the sound of whistling began to fill the air.  
Seeing that the tea was done, Undyne made her way over the stove and poured the tea into three cups before handing them out and keeping the last one for herself.

"Drink it while it's hot, my recommendation." she stated before talking a gulp.

Following her action, Asriel took a small sip of the tea, only to yelp in pain when his tongue got slightly burned from the scorching hot tea. Being more careful, he gently blew into the cup, cooling the tea down a bit before taking another sip. His red eyes widened when his taste buds were greeted with a heavenly flavor, prompting him to take a bigger sip.

"This is amazing, I've never tasted anything like it!" he exclaimed before taking another sip.

Undyne smiled at the child as she drank from her own cup, but much to her confusion, once again for a few seconds, the image of the human child vanished to be replaced by the prince of monsters but by the time she blinked, the human was there once more. She didn't understand why she kept hallucinating about the supposedly dead prince that she never got a chance to know on a personal level. She was awakened from her thoughts when the young child asked her about the flowers.

She remained silent as she glanced at the floor in debate. While the true loyal knight of her wanted to give the human no information, another part of her felt the child was trustworthy and had proven his worth. So with her mind set, she had Asriel follow her out of her house. Undyne sighed as she left her front yard and sat down in front of the bright glowing pond.

"Kid, these flowers that I used in my tea weren't always in the Underground. In fact it was Asgore himself that introduced me to the flowers in the first place." she began to explain as Asriel felt his heart nearly stop upon the mention of his father's name before she continued, "I don't know all the details but something happened and because of that terrible thing we all learned Asgore and Toriel's son Asriel had been killed by the humans. They were both devastated and on that day Asgore declared war against the humans."

Asriel frowned when he heard how his parents were heartbroken when they thought he was dead. He did his best to hold back a shaky sigh as he recalled how his mother practically cried tears of joy when she discovered he was still alive, but she thought so negatively of Asgore, leaving him to wonder how much grief his parents suffered before they finally went their own ways.

"When they retuned to the castle, both Asgore and Toriel discovered there were seeds stuck to their fur. Seems they came from some body that some monsters spotted Toriel carrying but they weren't able to get a clear look due to the fact she clung onto the body closely to her chest. Anyways those seeds were none other than the seeds of the golden flowers. Asgore planted his seeds in the castle and actually created a lovely garden but as for Toriel, I have no idea where she planted hers, no one has seen her since ever since she left the king's side." Undyne finished with a sigh.

"They must have been very heartbroken." Asriel commented as his red eyes glanced down at the water.

But much to his surprise Undyne snickered slightly and said "It's understandable, I lost someone close to me too."

At that moment the female monster froze when she realized she had unintentionally confessed something very personal to a human she barely knew. She turned toward him to see the young child staring up at her with his head tilted in curiosity. She didn't know why but seeing the eagerness in his eyes that silently told he wanted to help, she let out another sigh before taking a drink.

"I had a close friend named Alphys." she began to confess, still stunned she was reveling this, "She was pretty nervous at times but she was passionate, something I admired in her, reminded me of much myself. But after that incident I tried to visit her lab because I heard reports from my guards posted at Hotlands that apparently she ran out of her lab and sobbed for hours, so I wanted to make sure everything was alright. But when I got there, the lab was empty and all I found was this note."

Without another word she reached into her pants' pocket and pulled out a paper that was slightly crumbled and appeared to have tear drops on it. Asriel accepted the paper and saw it was a not left by Alphys, explaining that she had done a terrible deed that she didn't have the courage to admit and out of her grief she chose to run away to unknown parts of the Underground in order to try to start anew and she didn't want anyone to follow her as to not be a burden.

"Did you ever try to find her?" the young monster asked as he handed back the note.

Undyne remained silent as she gently folded up the note and placed back into her pocket before answering "Yes but sadly I have no clues. She really didn't want anyone to find her. I just wish I knew where she was so I could help her and be there for her."

Asriel did not reply as he stared at the female monster; he could see that while she was doing her best to remain stern, deep down she was heartbroken over Alphys' disappearance. Deciding to comfort her, without any second thoughts the young monster set down his teacup and hugged her around the waist, prompting her to stiffen slightly.

"Don't worry, Undyne. You're the greatest knight I have ever seen and you have great determination. With that determination I'm sure one day you'll find Alphys." he insured.

Upon hearing this, Undyne couldn't help but smile as she gently laid her hand on his head. But when she looked down, her face immediately turned pale because she no longer saw a human child but rather the prince of all monsters hugging her.

"Asriel?!" she exclaimed loudly.

Frightened by the volume of her voice and sudden exclamation, Asriel yelped as he let go, prompting him to accidentally fling himself backwards and his back smash against the cold ground. He groaned as he tilted his head up to see the knight constantly rub her eye in disbelief, convinced that she was hallucinating. With a groan he pushed himself upright and smiled a bit nervously.

"Sorry, Undyne." he apologized as he rubbed the back of his neck, "I didn't mean to shock you but I didn't want to tell you who I was while I still looked like a human. But since you opened your heart to me, you were able to break the illusion and finally see me for who I am."

Undyne's mind was blank as she dug her fingers deeply into her red hair and stared with a horrified expression; not only was she shocked that Asriel was actually alive but also at the fact she had almost killed him back when she still thought he was a human. At that moment she recalled the discussion Sans had with her shortly before she tracked down the young monster for a second time, remembering how he had asked her to protect the human if she were ever to spot a child with flowers. It dawned on her that Sans already knew about Asriel's fate and hadn't tell her because she had to admit if someone had claimed to her earlier that Asriel was alive but looked like a human, she would have brushed it off as a ridiculous lie.

But before anyone could say another word, the scent of smoke reached the two monsters' noses. They both glanced at each other with horrified expressions before quickly dashing back to Undyne's house only to discover it on fire with Monster Kid panicking as he ran around in circles in the front yard.

"What happened to my house?!" Undyne shrieked in rage.

"I'm sorry Undyne, I wanted more tea but you weren't there and it got cold so I decided to work the stove myself and next thing I knew everything was on fire." Monster Kid immediately replied in a panicked tone.

Asriel flinched as he glanced over at Undyne seeing her stare speechless at her burning house since it was unintentionally caused by her choosing to chat with him without even considering the consequences of leaving Monster Kid alone.  
Monster Kid continued panicking until he spotted Asriel and asked where the human had gone out of confusion.

Meanwhile far away in the Underground was a small town with many monsters. Walking calmly through the town with a huge smile on her face was a yellow female dinosaur that wore a blue shirt, a white skirt, and glasses. She waved to the other monsters happily as she carried a basket of ice cream tubs on her arm, clinging it closely to the side of her body. She made her way to a small cabin house near the edge of town and pulled out her keys and opened the door.

But the moment she stepped inside, she froze immediately when she was greeted with a voice saying "Welcome home, Alphys."

Alphys heart raced in panic as she quickly flipped on the light switch to see the Flower Child with her unnerving smile as she sat at the kitchen table, pouring tea into two teacups.

"Please come and sit, you never talk to me any more." the child said as she ushered with her hand.

The yellow dinosaur clung onto her basket tighter, debating whether to dart out of the house or not. She gulped nervously at the memory of seeing dust scattered on the ground and a child laughing psychotically with tears streaming down their face. She couldn't prevent her body shuttering in fear as she stared at the child, seeing her continue to wait patiently for her to sit down. Fearing for what would happen if she were to say no, Alphys carefully made her way over to the kitchen and sat down.

"Al-Alright now w-why did you c-come here?" Alphys stuttered as her shaky hands clasped the tea cup.

The Flower Child giggled slightly before answering "I missed you, I always loved listening to you geek over anime as you helped me through dangerous puzzles with a killer robot."

The monster raised a brow at the response before stating "I never did no such thing. You stayed in the lab out of sight until that awful day happened, I never helped you with puzzles and you never did encounter Mettaton."

The child did not reply as she tapped her fingers against her chin, the silence even made the monster grow increasingly more worried. Finally after a few seconds she released a small psychotic laugh before commenting how she was remembering the other timeline.  
Alphys grew confused at the mention of the timeline, she remembered how back when the child stayed in her lab, back before she turned insane, the child would often mention about another timeline.

She was immediately awakened from her thoughts when the child asked "Alphys, why did you runaway? Your friends must miss you, especially Undyne."

Alphys' hand clenched tightly around the tea cup before she shouted "You know exactly why I ran away! It's because of you and that incident that day when things had went wrong. I unintentionally made you this way when I should have known better from my previous mistakes, yet I was stupid enough to believe I could make up for it and maybe fix my past mistakes. How could I face everyone if they discovered what I had created?"

The Flower Child did not reply but instead calmly sipped her tea, making the monster grow more nervous. She gently sat the tea cup down and formed a small sad smile on her face.  
Alphys' frowned when she could see a tear streak down the child's face.

Finally the child spoke up "I wish I could make up for it but it's so hard with this fractured mind. I can't even tell if I'm sad at your misery or delighted by it. Everything is all mixed up, just a chaos of thoughts that I'm unable to control. And to think if I had left things alone, you would have been living happily with Undyne right now."

Once that was said, psychotic laughter erupted from her as she stood up from her chair and picked up her flower basket from the floor. She grinned as she walked over to the door but before she left she turned toward Alphys to see her continue staring nervously, hoping that she wouldn't snap and decided just to kill her for her own amusement, like she had done to so many monsters in the past.

"By the way, that tea is actually Golden Flower tea. I can't make it exactly like Undyne does but I tried my best." she said.

Without another word she opened the door and left, closing it behind.  
Alphys released a breath she had been unaware she was holding and she rubbed her hands against her head, still slightly horrified that her dark past had come back to haunt her. She slowly lowered her hands before her brown eyes glanced down at the tea cup. She was a bit hesitant at first but eventually she picked it up and took a sip. She raised her brows in surprise when she discovered, while it wasn't as delicious as Undyne's, it was still close.

Back with Undyne, the female monster grumbled in annoyance as she sat on the ground, rubbing the temples of her forehead, doing her best not to glance at the burnt rubble that had once been her home.  
Both Asriel and Monster Kid shuffled their feet in guilt, both of them feeling responsible for the fire.

Gathering up his nerves, the goat-like monster finally spoke up "Sorry about your house, Undyne."

Undyne inhaled deeply as she lowered her hands.

"No it's fine, I'm totally okay with this. I'm totally fine." she said with her voice wavering as she struggled to stay calm, "I'll worry about it after I have taken you to see your father."

"What?!" Asriel exclaimed in shock as the female monster stood up and dusted off her pants.

"Before I found you for the second time, Sans showed up and had a chat with me." she explained as she dug through the burnt rubble, searching for any of her weapons that managed to survive the fire, "He explained to me how I need to protect you and now I can see why. With you appearing as a human to every monster in the Underground, they'll be bound to kill you. So I'm going to make sure you get to your dad in one piece, not only is it my duty as a knight but Asgore has been kind to me over the years and I want to repay him by guiding you to safety."

The goat-like monster's mouth slightly opened in surprise since no one up to this point had offered to help him, leaving him to be wary of the monsters himself. It wasn't long until he saw Undyne managed to locate a small dagger.

"Here use this to protect yourself on the way, but don't you dare consider killing anyone, only use it as a last resort." Undyne stated in a stern tone.

Asriel flinched slightly as he accepted the dagger; he could sense the dark glee of Chara's soul at the fact he finally held a weapon in his hands. Trying to do the best to ignore her, he quickly blocked his thoughts off from her and stuffed the dagger into his pocket.

"Alright Kid, you need to wait for your parents. MD here will keep an eye on you until they arrive to pick you up. But before I leave, please try not to cause more destruction." Undyne said as she jabbed her index finger at Monster Kid's face.

"You can count on me, Undyne!" the young monster proclaimed as he tried his best to salute without any arms.

The female monster rolled her yellow eye before she turned toward Asriel. With the nod of her head, the two walked out of the yard and began making their way back to the canyon's bridge, prepared for their journey into the Hotlands. Asriel's heart pounded with determination as his hands balled up into two firm fists, knowing that with Undyne's help he was that much closer to finally confronting his father.


	7. Fiery Fighting Spirit

Chapter 7

Asriel couldn't help but laugh in happiness as he ran across the rocky bridge that connected Waterfall to Hotlands. He was excited that he was finally very close to reaching his father; he couldn't help but wonder how his father would react upon discovering that after all those years he was still alive. But he frowned slightly when he remembered that he would have to first convince his father of his identity which would be difficult to do when he knew he would appear as a human in the eyes of his father until he managed to open his heart to him.

The young monster glanced back at Undyne to see her casually looking around at the rocky walls of the tunnel with her hands stuffed in her pockets; her yellow eye studying every detail not to take in the sights but to keep an eye out for any other monsters that would want to kill the young prince. His white fluffy ears flapped as he quickly dashed over to the female monster and stared up at her with a huge innocent grin.

Undyne rolled her eye with a small huff as she commented "You wear the same goofy grin as your dad."

Asriel raised his brows in surprise before immediately asking "Undyne, how did you come to know my dad? I remember you mentioning that you wanted to repay his kindness."

The knight smirked upon hearing this before she summoned a spear and quickly ran up to and jumped on a huge rock. She made sure her tale was as exciting as possible as she swung around her spear, explaining how as a child, she had challenged Asgore to a fight. She tried to describe the events in the best epic as way as possible, wanting to capture the same spark she felt pounding away in her heart whenever she watched anime. Undyne glanced at Asriel to see him laughing in joy as his red eyes shined with happiness, eager to hear more of the tale of the knight's battle with his father.

But the aura of happiness quickly faded when the two monsters heard slow clapping. They directed their attention to the end of the tunnel to see the Flower Child with a small smile as she gently clapped her hands.

"I have to say, Undyne, that story didn't sound as thrilling when you told me it. I guess you weren't so interested in impressing me than you are with Asriel right now." she said with a small giggle.

Undyne's yellow eye widened, both out of shock and confusion that the girl spoke of events she never recalled happening and at the fact that was the child Sans had warned her about. When she saw Asriel taking a few steps back with the expression of fear painted on his face, she snarled and immediately stood in front of him, ready to attack.

"Look, Flowey, I promised I wouldn't let anyone harm Asriel. So you better back off before I grind you into dust." the knight warned, purposely adding a more venomous tone with the mocking nickname she gave the girl.

The Flower Child snickered with a red glow emitting from the shadows of her hat before she commented "Flowey huh? Funny, normally that name isn't addressed to me. So I ask you kindly not to do so, after all this is a whole different timeline."

Undyne's hands tightly gripped her spear as she grinded her teeth in frustration; she believed the child before her was completely insane with the mentions of timelines and how she acted like she knew her when as far as she knew, this was the first time she encountered her. But despite the confusion, her mind was set that she would protect Asriel no matter what the cost. With a snarl of rage she blasted her green magic at her opponent, causing the green glowing chains to form around her ankles. Seeing she was stuck she charged forward.

"Just like old times, I can't decide whether this makes me feel nostalgic or angry." the Flower Child commented before quickly summoning vines as a shield.

The female knight gasped when her spear was stuck in the vines. Thinking fast she quickly let go of her spear and summoned two more just in time the slice in half a few vines that swung toward her direction. She quickly directed her attention toward the vines the Flower Child was still using as a shield and sliced through them, exposing her opponent. She was relieved when she saw the child was still imprisoned in the magic chains but that relief was quickly replaced in anger when she saw the Flower Child summon more vines to protect herself.

Asriel's heart constantly pounded in fear as he watched the battle play out. He was worried that the Flower Child would defeat and kill Undyne with how much she kept trying to convince him to kill rather than show mercy.

 _"If you're so worried about her, why don't you let me get a rematch on that freak."_ a familiar voice suggested.

The young monster nearly stopped breathing when he recognized the voice as Chara's. His breathing became ragged as his eyes trailed down to the dagger resting snugly in his pants' pocket. He didn't want to relinquish control over to his sibling when she had a love for killing just as much as their current opponent.

Sensing her brother's hesitancy, Chara growled in frustration _"Oh come on, like you can't deny the only way out of this situation is fighting! We both know I'm the better fighter, so give me control over your body so we can takedown our common enemy!"_

Asriel bit his lip, unsure what to do before glancing at the battle once more. He gasped in fear when he saw the Flower Child managed to successfully knock one of the spears out of Undyne's hands and readied for attack. Without even thinking about it fully and acting on instinct alone, the monster let go, allowing the human soul within him to take control.  
Chara released a dark chuckle as she pulled the dagger out of Asriel's pocket, feeling ecstatic at the fact she now held a deadly weapon in her hand. Using the determination building in her soul, she quickly charged forward and sliced through all the vines and even managed to create a cut on the girl's cheek. She couldn't help but grin when she saw instead of the usual grin on the Flower Child's face, she instead saw a glimpse of fear form on her face.

"Let's try that last battle again shall we?" Chara taunted before punching the child.

Undyne stared silently as she watched what she believed to be Asriel attack the Flower Child. She didn't know why but she sensed there was something off with him, especially with what seemed to be a deadly glint in his red eyes now. Unfortunately she was so distracted that she failed to see the vine swing at her. The female knight cried out in pain as she was smashed against the wall and slumped to the ground unconscious, resulting in her magic chains to disappear.  
Chara snarled when she sensed Asriel's worry for Undyne before shoving his consciousness deeper into darkness, refusing to allow him to reclaim his body. Her red eyes glowed in determined as she watched the Flower Child scamper on the ground, desperately shooting out vines only to have them cut down.

"So who's the idiot now?" she taunted as she successfully backed her opponent up into a corner with her dagger raised, "After all you are the one that encourages Asriel to kill."

The Flower Child remained silent but then without warning summoned a glowing yellow light in her hand.

Chara's eyes immediately widened in fear when she heard the girl whisper in a low voice "Load."

At that moment time immediately stopped, leaving the two children the only moving things before it quickly rewound at top speed. Chara stared in disbelief as the Flower Child's wounds on her body she had inflicted disappeared before her very eyes until finally time stopped once more and began to flow normally. She whipped her head around in different directions, seeing instead of being unconscious, Undyne was standing before her in a protective matter with her spear pointed at the Flower Child in a threatening manner.

 _"That was the power of Determination!"_ Chara thought to herself as she brushed her hand through Asriel's fur in disbelief, _"Monsters don't have that power, only humans do. But she couldn't possibly be a human, she would had been killed at this point. So why does she have the power that should be rightfully mine?!"_

The more and more she thought about it, the more it enraged her. She was so distracted by her thoughts that she failed to see the Flower Child managed to knock out Undyne once again and was getting ready to attack. Chara didn't have time to react as a large vine wrapped around her and began crushing Asriel's body. She clenched her teeth tightly, refusing to cry out in pain as the Flower Child's psychotic laughter filled the air.

"Not so talkative now are you, Chara?" the Flower Child taunted as the red glow emitting from the shadows of her hat shined brighter, "I could so easily crush you and Asriel both right now! It's just so tempting, especially since it would mean stopping you."

Chara narrowed her red eyes and commented with a snarl "I don't get you, you're so determined to see Asriel kill and sometimes even kill him. Yet there's times where you save him, going against your own morals. Why is it that you can't make up your mind?"

Much to her surprise she saw the young girl's grin falter for a few seconds and the grip of the vines wrapped around her loosen for a few seconds. But it quickly faded when her psychotic grin returned and she tightened her grip.

"So you want to see me stick to my morals? That's a wonderful idea!" the Flower Child shouted happily.

Without warning she picked up her flower basket and snapped the vine holding Chara from the ground before tying it firmly around Asriel's body to insure no escape. With an eeiree hum she grabbed firmly ahold of the vines and began dragging Chara along the path leading to Hotlands with excitement growing in her mind at the thought of showing not only Chara but Asriel as well exactly how strong her determination is.

Undyne had no idea how long she was unconscious when she finally awoken. She groaned as she pushed herself to her hands and knees, ignoring the throbbing pain coursing throughout her body. She was confused on what happened to her until the memories of her fight with the Flower Child came rushing back to her. The knight couldn't prevent the fearful gasp that escaped her mouth as she jumped to her feet, realizing that she had left Asriel unprotected. She twisted and turned her body, searching for any sign of the young prince but as much as she feared, she saw no sign of him in the area.

Undyne yelled in frustration as she stomped her foot, enraged that she wasn't able to keep her promise to keep Asriel safe. She couldn't understand how she managed to lose to the mysterious child; it puzzled her deeply how she was able to overcome the girl's strength easily yet it seemed like her opponent was familiar with her fighting style. She remained confused until all of the sudden she felt a tap on her shoulder. Undyne released a battle cry as she immediately spun around, believing the Flower Child had return but much to her surprise she was instead greeted with the sight of Sans. At first she was relieved until she noticed the permanent grin that the skeleton usually wore on his face with gone and was replaced with a stern expression with his eye sockets showing no sign of his pupils.

"Where's Asriel?" Sans asked in a slight dark tone.

Undyne unconsciously took in a sharp breath when she heard his voice; she had never seen this side of the skeleton, being use to his lazy personality so it indeed shocked her deeply to learn the skeleton was capable of creating a strong and threatening aura that could even compete with her own.

Snapping out of her shock, she finally answered "I don't know, I was knocked unconscious by that flower freak! My gut tells me she took him while I was out."

Sans' boney hands clenched slightly in his jacket pockets as he let out a deep sigh and muttered "I was afraid of that. Come on, we need to get him back!"

The female knight blinked in shock as the skeleton grabbed firmly ahold of her wrist and started walking back to Waterfall. She was about to opened her mouth to comment until without warning she felt a strong gust of wind, forcing her to squeeze shut her only eye. When she reopened it, her mouth dropped open when she found herself in the familiar volcanic surroundings of Hotland.

"But we... I thought... but it was... we went... the wind... and... wha?!" Undyne mumbled like crazy, unable to piece together an answer for how Sans managed to reach Hotlands when he had walked in the opposite direction.

Her confusion didn't last long when the sounds of panic and screams filled the air. Wasting no time, Sans and Undyne quickly followed the sounds but when they got there they were greeted with the sight of a dragon in knight's armor scream in pain as a thorny vine pierced through his body, causing him to die of his wounds and his body fade away into dust, leaving only his armor to clatter to the ground along side another set of armor. Undyne stared in horror as her heart ached in sadness from the scene she had witnessed.

"Knights one and two!" she yelled loudly.

Her yellow eye glared at the murderer who was none other than the Flower Child who was grinning madly with dust all over her clothes as she shot out some bullets and managed to injure and kill some fleeing monsters.

"You heartless creature!" the knight screamed in rage, prompting the girl to sharply turn toward her and Sans and grin wider.

Undyne's grip tightened around her spear as she got ready to charge her opponent. But before she could even take a single step, much to her surprise Sans dashed ahead of her. She stared speechlessly as she watched the skeleton pull one of his hands out of his pocket and made it glow blue, prompting the Flower Child's body to be engulfed in the same glow. Her mouth dropped open when she saw Sans jerk his hand to the right which caused the girl's body to go flying in the same direction and smash against the hot rocky wall.

"Sans..." the knight started to say but her heart temporarily stopped when he jerked his head toward her direction, revealing his glowing blue eye.

"Get Asriel out of here now!" he yelled before he summoned two Gaster Blasters and blasting them at the Flower Child, severely injuring her.

The young girl laughed as she forced herself to stand back up, her hand clutched tightly around the golden flower she always favored. Her psychotic grin remained on her face but tears were streaking down her face.

"You have no idea how much it hurts, dad. So much chaos." she said, her voice almost on the verge of breaking as she blasted bullets at the skeleton.

Sans was able to easily to dodge the attack before replying "First of all I have no idea why you keep calling me that. Second of all, I do know how much it hurts, that's why it's important you're taken out, before you do anymore damage."

The Flower Child replied with a laugh that sounded mixed with a sob as she summoned more vines and lashed out at the skeleton without another word.  
Undyne remained frozen in shock for a few seconds before finally shaking her head frantically to snap out of it. She turned her attention over to Asriel to see the young monster laying on his side and tightly bound in vines. Wasting no time, she quickly made a mad dash for the prince, doing her best not to accidentally run through the piles of dust that lay at her feet.

Chara snarled as she jerked around, desperate to get free and constantly shoved away the horrified feelings of Asriel that were constantly trying to reclaim control over his body. She didn't want him to strip control from her and take away her chance of getting revenge by killing the Flower Child. She kept struggling until she noticed Undyne run over to her and cut the vines with her spear, freeing her.

"Come on, we need to get you out of here!" the knight stated as she firmly grabbed ahold of the young child's wrist.

Chara was unable to prevent the growl of annoyance to escape her mouth since she refused to flee, especially when she believed she could easily overpower the Flower Child and slaughter her.  
The growl didn't go unnoticed by Undyne, prompting her to freeze before she slowly turned toward the young child. She stared deeply into Asriel's red eyes and she could no longer see the fun loving and kind aura that seemed to dwell within them but rather in their place were hateful and dark red eyes that seems to glow slightly.

Undyne immediately let go of the child's wrist and snarled "What did you do to Asriel because I can tell you're not him."

Chara raised a brow in surprise before chuckling darkly, impressed that the knight was able to catch onto the subtle difference. Without warning she used Asriel's fire magic to blast the female monster back a bit before twisting the dagger in her hand.

"Well I was intending to only kill the flower brat but since you're challenging me, I might as well collect my EXP. After all, the more LOVE, the better." she smirked before lunging at the knight with the intent to kill.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I didn't make the Flower Child come off as OP as I was attempting to strike a good balance in this chapter.


	8. Undyne vs Chara

Chapter 8

Undyne sucked in a deep breath as her spear clashed with Chara's dagger before she shoved her back. She tried to wrap the many confusing details around her mind at what she witnessed ever since the discovery of Asriel's survival. She was finding it hard to believe that Sans secretly had abilities she was unaware of, there was an insane murderous child with a huge obsession with flowers, and now that Asriel's body had been claimed by a mysterious force. All she knew that once the battle was over, she was going to demand Sans answer all her questions.

"And he better not pull that lazy sleeping act he loves so much." Undyne grumbled to herself.

Without a word she summoned three spears and threw them at Chara, trying to be careful not to accidentally inflict any wounds to Asriel's body.  
Chara snickered when she saw the spears flying toward her. With her feet steady she caught one of the spears and immediately began twirling it to deflect the other spears that were hurdling toward her. She couldn't prevent the smirk from forming on her face the moment she saw Undyne's stunned expression. Her red eyes glinted in both delight and mischievousness as she taunted the knight by gesturing her hand quickly in a beckoning motion.

The female monster snarled in frustration as her grip tightened around her spear. Without any second thoughts she charged forward. She took in steady yet rapid breaths as she clashed her spear with Chara's whilst jerking out of the way to avoid getting sliced by the dagger Chara still wielded. As she fought against the determined child, Undyne couldn't help but find it odd how her opponent was able to easily keep up with her. Every slash, swing, and stab she made, the young child before her was able to easily match her pace.

 _"It's almost like this person had fought me before."_ Undyne thought with clenched teeth.

Chara chuckled as she noticed Undyne's surprise at her being able to keep up. She was thankful that despite not having control over Asriel's body most of the time, she still was able to see through his eyes, allowing her to watch and examine when Asriel battled Undyne earlier. Her red eyes glanced over at Sans and the Flower Girl who were still in the midst of battle. She gasped as she saw the skeleton summon bones from the ground only for the girl to jump up and scamper onto a rock to dodge the attack. She was so stunned by the Flower Girl's agility that she failed to properly dodge one of Undyne's attacks. Out of a last second reaction, Chara quickly shoved her spear against her opponent's, resulting the spear to instantly veer to the right a create a large gash on Asriel's face.

Chara screamed out in pain, her scream mixed with Asriel's as she dropped her dagger and slapped her freehand against the bleeding cut. A hateful growl emerged from the child's throat as she glared at the knight. But her glare faltered a bit when she saw Undyne's eye was wide in fear and concern. At first she was confused until she remembered the situation she was in.

A dark grin spread across her face as she pulled her hand away from her face, showing the blood on her hand while taunting "That's right, you don't want to fight too ferociously. Otherwise you would be hurting little Asriel's body."

"I'll kill you if you dare harm him!" Undyne snapped as she resisted the urge to lunge at the child.

"Oh but then you would be killing Asriel, after all it is his body." Chara replied with a smug giggle.

The knight narrowed her yellow eye as she remained silent, unsure how to proceed. She wanted to defeat the mocking child yet at the same time she didn't want to hurt Asriel. Unfortunately her moment of hesitation was all Chara needed for an opening. Undyne took in a sharp breath when she saw her opponent use Asriel's magic to throw a fireball. She jumped to the side to dodge but the fireball managed to hit her arm. With clenched teeth she crashed to the ground, inhaling deeply as she felt her burnt skin sting with smoke radiating off of it. She glared up at Chara who approached with a deadly glint in her eyes.

Chara said nothing as she reared back the glowing spear to the side of her body, ready to attack. Without any mercy she slashed the spear across the knight's face. She grinned widely when she saw the female monster get knocked to the side with her body curled into a fetal position.

Chara chuckled before gloating "Child's play, knew I would take you down. Now to take care of that flower fre-"

The young child was cut off by the sounds of rapid breathing. She nearly stopped breathing as she watched Undyne push herself up with one hand while the other covered where her left eye would had been. On the ground was none other than Undyne's eyepatch that had been cut off from the slash.  
The fish monster breathed rapidly through her clenched teeth with her fingers dug deeply into the rocky ground. She didn't know why, but the moment her eyepatch was removed she felt a strange feeling building up in her. Though despite not understanding the mysterious feeling, she could easily recognize that the feeling was healing her wounds and fueling her need to save Asriel. With her mindset she instantly got back on her feet.

"I don't know what you are," Undyne said in a confident tone with her hand still holding over the left side of her face, "but I, Undyne, will strike you down!"

The moment the last words left her lips, Undyne jerked down her hand to reveal green energy bursting from the eye socket.

"Wha... What kind of monster are you even?!" Chara exclaimed in disbelief, stunned from the power she was witnessing radiating from the knight.

Back with the Flower Child, she had barely dodged Sans' gaster blaster until she noticed Undyne. She gasped in shock as her body began shaking with her lip trembling.

"Why? She shouldn't be like that, she isn't at death. She shouldn't had that power here. The events nearly match up to my original timeline, it wasn't anything like the other he showed me." the young girl muttered in a frightful tone.

Acting fast, Sans took the girl's distraction as an opportunity to knock her down with on of his bones projectiles. He watched as the young child cried out upon smashing on the hard ground and almost losing her hat. Not wanting her to get up, the skeleton summoned a set of long bones and stabbed them into the ground, creating a makeshift cage that kept the child pressed against the ground. Sans left out a sigh of relief when he saw his plan work when the Flower Child started struggling but didn't have enough strength to break free of the bones due to the wounds she received from the battle. Seeing the most dangerous threat was under lock and key, he finally directed his attention toward Undyne and Chara.

His brows raised in disbelief when he saw the green energy bursting from Undyne's eye socket with what seemed to be Asriel staring at her in shock while holding a glowing spear.

"Okay, something tells me that I missed something here." he commented as he glanced between the two figures.

The green energy blazed as Undyne unleashed a battle cry. A green aura radiated off her body with her magic crafting her armor. She gazed in shock at the green glowing gauntlets, shin guards, armor covering her entire right arm, belt, and plate that rest on the top of her chest. Her yellow eye was able to easily spot that upon the plate and belt was the symbol of the royal family.

"Would have liked more armor to cover me but right now that's the least of my concerns." Undyne commented as she set her sights on her opponent.

Without a word she summoned ten glowing spears that floated above her head and were dipped down where they were pointing at Chara.  
The young girl stared at the spears pointed at her before quickly shaking her head to snap out of her shock. A determined sneer formed on her face as she got into a fighting stance and held onto the spear tightly with both hands. Her eyes narrowed as she kept her body still, waiting for the knight to make her first move. Silence filled the air until finally she saw Undyne attack by sending three spears hurdling toward her.

Chara quickly jumped up, swiftly dodging the spears before immediately twirling her spear to deflect another set flying toward her.  
Undyne snarled as she clenched a spear in her hand and lunged toward Chara. She swung her spear with all her might, forcing her opponent to clash her spear against hers in defense. Fortunately though, Undyne was thrilled to see that the strange feeling gave her the strength to force back the child.  
Chara hissed as she was sent tumbling backwards, pain coursing throughout her when her back smashed against the ground. But she wasn't quite out of danger yet, prompting her to gasp when she saw many blue circles form underneath her. The child instantly jumped up on her feet and barely managed to dodge the spears that shot forth instantly from the blue circles.

Chara allowed the small shriek of frustration to escape her mouth as her chest heaved quickly and heavily. She knew that Undyne held a great advantage over her with her mysterious power, especially with the fact that she had no EXP thanks to Asriel. With only her determination to fuel her, the young child created fire in her hands and blasted it toward the knight while charging toward her.  
Undyne held her armored arm in front of her, summoning a large green shield that successfully blocked the fireballs. While she was a little surprised at her newly discovered ability, her thoughts and feelings were being drowned out by the mysterious feeling. All she knew was that she wanted to defeat Chara and was allowing the feeling to guide her actions. Unfortunately because the feeling was so strong, the more Undyne battled the more the goal of saving Asriel was slipping from her mind.

Sans watched the battle unfold with his brows furrowed together in confusion and concern.

"You know it's odd, kid. I've never seen Undyne radiate so much power before." he said with the shrug of his shoulders.

The Flower Child tilted her head up in confusion as she asked in a quiet tone "Why are you talking to me, especially after the monsters I killed?"

The skeleton glanced at the young girl before commenting "I know you weren't right in the head. Your emotions and thoughts constantly switch on a whim. It's hard to realize what you're doing when you have two clashing forces creating so much chaos in that noggin of yours."

The girl frowned as she glanced toward the ground, whispering quietly "Mom and Alphys meant well."

Sans chose not to comment on the girl's statement as he focused on the two figures battling. He found it strange how the child next to him was quite mysterious. He understood the girl originated from a different timeline and what caused her to go insane in the first place, but he didn't understand how she managed to alter the timeline so drastically and why she wanted to do so. The skeleton was awakened from his thoughts by the sound of Undyne's angry yell.

Undyne grinned in delight when she saw her opponent grow weaker. The mysterious feeling kept causing her to feel thrilled that she was about to win the battle. She was about to summon her spear until she heard a dripping sound. She paused for a moment in confusion, wondering where the dripping sound was coming from since Hotlands didn't have water except for one small water cooler. Deciding to satisfy her curiosity, she turned her head toward the direction of the sound. When she did this, Undyne's heart nearly stopped out of fear. She saw the dripping sound wasn't coming from any source of water but rather her arm that was beginning to melt.

The Flower Child gasped the moment she saw this unfold and shouted "The determination is destroying you!"

"Determination?!" not only Undyne but Sans as well exclaimed in unison.

Chara's mouth nearly dropped open in disbelief. She couldn't wrap her mind around how Undyne could have determination when no monster should exhibit that trait unless they absorb a human soul. But despite her confusion, she was quite pleased to see the determination had a negative effect on the female monster, resulting in it causing her body to start to melt.

"You'll be all too easy to beat in this state!" Chara laughed before lunging toward Undyne was a large fireball blazing in her hand.

But her attack never landed as she found her body engulfed in a blue aura holding her in place. She quickly turned her head to see none other than Sans holding out his hand with it engulfed in the same aura and his left eye glowing brightly blue.  
Undyne breathed in deeply as her gaze focused dead set on the murderous child. Having forgotten her goal, she created one spear that didn't take up too much energy.

"Time to end this now!" she proclaimed before throwing the spear directly toward Chara.

"Wait, Undyne!" Sans shouted, shocked the knight had forgotten that any killing blows would result in Asriel's death.

He instantly released Chara from his magic and tried to stop the spear. Unfortunately he was too late.  
Chara screamed as the spear pierced and ran completely through Asriel's chest, causing the soul in front of her chest to shatter. One last breath escaped her mouth as Asriel's body fell to the ground. She could feel both hers and Asriel's consciousness slipping away as they continued their descent. But before she and her sibling faded away into darkness, she heard a familiar word shouted the Flower Child.

At that moment time stopped before quickly rewinding like it did back with her encounter at tunnel. It didn't take long for the wound to disappear in Asriel's chest and her soul to form back together while air rush into her brother's body once again. Once time started flowing again, much to Chara's shock, she was back to the moment of time when she was tied up and Undyne screaming at the Flower Child for the monsters she had slain.

"I knew this was a good spot to Save. I had a sneaking suspicion that you would escalate the battle. Oh, but none the less, I was almost tempted to see Undyne's reaction. I wonder how horrified she would had been to see she killed the thing we was trying to save. Wouldn't be much of a knight. But that's determination for you." the Flower Child comment with a wide grin.

Chara watched as the young girl whipped her head toward Undyne and Sans as she allowed her grin to grow even wider. The events played out just as they did before with Undyne getting ready to attack only for the skeleton to dash ahead of her. But her eyes widened as she when the Flower Child laughed psychotically as she summoned a large vine and snagged Sans arm before he had a chance to pull it out.

"Can't let you do that. Make of this what you will." the Flower Child stated with a giggle before throwing and smashing Sans against the hot rocky wall.

She giggled madly when she saw Undyne charge toward her in anger. While a part of her wanted to battle Undyne with all her might, she chose against it for the important matter at hand. Without warning she turned toward Chara and smashed her fist as hard as she could against the back of her head. She hummed happily as she watched the monster before her collapse on the ground unconscious. Happy that she had taken out Chara once again, she turned toward Undyne to see her getting ready to throw her spear. With a psychotic laugh she transported away just as the knight had thrown her spear.

Undyne gasped in fear when she saw that with the Flower Child no longer there, the spear was hurdling toward Asriel's unconscious body. The last thing she wanted to do was explain to Asgore that his son was alive and that she had accidentally killed him. The spear was inches away from Asriel's body until it froze in midair while engulfed in a blue aura. The female monster was confused until she saw Sans calmly walk up next to her with his hand extended, revealing he had stop the spear with his magic.

"What took you so long to use your magic?!" Undyne shouted in frustration.

"well i kind of was just thrown against a rocky wall. you could say i had my world _rocked_." Sans replied with a chuckle as he tossed away the spear.

The knight rolled her yellow eye in frustration and annoyance. She was about to walk over to Asriel to free him from the vines he was tied in until she felt Sans firmly grab ahold of her arm. She was about to complain until she saw his pupils were gone and his grin was replaced with a stern frown. Undyne on instinct swallowed a lump that had formed in her throat. While she didn't really fear anything in the heat of battle, she couldn't help but fear the skeleton's expression. She believed that such an expression was unnatural for him, especially due to being so used to his lazy persona.

Sans took in a sigh before he spoke up "Normally I wouldn't do this, but it's important you have this knowledge."

Undyne was confused by what he meant until he tugged on her arm to silently tell her to kneel. She fulfilled the request and was about to open her mouth to ask him what he was intending to do. But she never got a chance to speak as Sans pressed his hand against her forehead. Her heart stopped when a large blue pupil appeared in his left eye. Within an instant a series of images raced through her mind. She started trembling out of guilt and fear when she saw the battle against her and Chara, her using determination, and her killing Asriel with her spear. The moment Sans lifted his hand away from her forehead, she jerked her arm out of his grip while taking in rapid breaths.

"What the hell was that, Sans?!" she exclaimed both in anger and fear, "What was that thing in Asriel's body and why did I see myself killing him? This better not be one of your jokes because I'll murder you! I would never harm, let alone kill Asriel!"

Sans inhaled deeply before replying "What you saw was another timeline. I would explain it but then you might not be too thrilled. Basically I can kind of see other events in small fragments. I decided to show you because of the fact the you from that timeline used Determination. I was wondering how you can even wield the power only humans can wield."

Undyne glared at Sans in disbelief. Not only could she not believe that Sans could see into different timelines but she also couldn't believe he thought she would know how she could wield determination when she didn't even she even had such a power in the first place. But before she could comment, she heard the sound of a groan. She spun around and saw Asriel was beginning to stir. Immediately she ran over to him and cut loose the vines wrapped around his body.

"Asriel, are you okay?" she asked out of concern as she helped the young monster sit upright.

"My... head hurts." the young monster groaned weakly in reply.

Being as careful as possible, Undyne tilted Asriel's head forward and saw the back of his head had a large swollen and purple area from were the Flower Child had hit him. She snarled in rage, angry that she was unable to prevent the psychotic child from harming the one she promised to deliver safely to his father. The image of the spear running through Asriel flashed through her mind before she immediately pushed it away.

 _"No, that won't happen. I know not to use that power. But still... why did I throw my spear when I should have known it would have killed him? Did the power of determination blind my sight that much?"_ she thought to herself as her fingers mindlessly ran across her eyepatch.

She was awakened from her thoughts when Asriel groaned once more and his head slumped against her shoulder.

"talk about taking a lump. all he needs is some hot chocolate to go with that." sans joked as he approached the two monsters, back to his lazy and jokester self.

Undyne sighed in annoyance as she stood up while holding Asriel in his arms.

"He needs to be healed. But we can't do it out here, even after the many monsters that thing had killed, there are still some roaming around that will mistake Asriel for a human. Fortunately though, I know just the place to take him and it isn't too far." she said.

"i think i know the place. though i don't think the kid could handle being transported. it would be a rush and his head wouldn't want to rushed, then it would be a _headrush_." Sans commented while winking the moment he uttered his pun.

Undyne groaned in annoyance once again, disliking that the skeleton was making jokes while knowing that Asriel was injured. Without another word, Sans and Undyne began walking toward their destination while being wary of the monsters that lurked in Hotlands.


	9. First Impressions

Chapter 9

Undyne didn't utter a single word as her and Sans finally reached their destination. She frowned as her yellow eye studied the worn down and abandoned lab that once belonged to the friend she deeply cared for. She grunted slightly as she handed Asriel's unconscious body over to Sans. She kneeled down and retrieved a key that was snuggly kept on the inside of her boot.  
Sans raised a brow in interest as he watched the knight stood back up before unlocking the door to the lab.

"you know i could have given you a key, a _skeleton_ key." he chuckled, earning an annoyed grunt from the annoyed monster as she opened the door.

"Sans, you should already know that I obviously had been given a spare key to this place by Alphys. She didn't want me to stuck outside waiting like what happened that one day." Undyne grumbled as she took Asriel back into her arms.

The two monsters didn't share anymore words with each other as they entered the lab. But once inside, the female knight was shocked to discover that the computer and camera monitors were on. She narrowed her yellow eye in suspicion; she didn't remember leaving any of Alphys' things on during her last visit to the lab. She carefully began studying the surroundings in the lab as she gently sat Asriel down with his back resting against the wall. Undyne kept searching for any other details that could be out of place until she was startled by Sans letting out a single cough.

The knight grumbled as she slapped her hand over the skeleton's mouth, giving him an annoyed glare. Much to her frustration, the monster simply shrugged his shoulders with a lazy expression. At that moment, the sound of gears moving filled the air. Undyne snapped her head to the sound of the direction to see the sounds were emerging from behind a closed bathroom door. She tilted her head in confusion, unaware that she had let hand drop from Sans' mouth.

"huh, talk about some serious bathroom issues. you can practically hear the pipes from here." the skeleton commented.

Undyne took a moment to glare at her comrade before directing her attention toward the bathroom door once more. The moment she saw the door knob started turning, the knight summoned her blue spear and got into a fighting stance. With a battle cry she threw her spear before charging toward the intruder with another spear already summoned in her hand. But once she reached the intruder, she paused when she saw standing before was a robotic monster wearing a white lab coat and goggles. She could see his pink eyes, which could barely be seen behind the goggles, were wide in shock at the fact the spear embedded in the wall had barely missed his head.

"My... I go off to the little robot's room and I come back to almost get my head speared." the robot commented in surprise.

"hey at least you didn't get turned into a _spearhead_." Sans joked as he approached the two.

Undyne rolled her eye in annoyance before directing her attention toward the robotic monster. She snarled as she jabbed her spear toward him, demanding to know what he was doing in the lab that belonged to her best friend. Much to her frustration, the intruder simply chuckled as he gently nudged the spear to the side. The knight couldn't help but allow a small grunt of anger escape her mouth. She didn't know why, but the robot's smug attitude reminded her of a friend Alphys once had brought to her house who ended up annoying her to no ends. Having been reminded of the horrible houseguest, Undyne paratically grinded her teeth together in fury whilst she gave the robot before her a hateful glare.

"I wouldn't frown so much dearie, it will only create frown lines. While your face isn't quite all that, frown lines would only worsen the problem." the robotic monster warned with a smug smirk.

The female monster's face froze in shock upon hearing this before snapping "Did you just imply I'm ugly?!"

"Well, now that you mention it..." the robot replied as he tapped his finger against his chin.

Unfortunately he was unable to finish his sentence as Undyne roared in rage.  
Sans chuckled as he watched the robot start fleeing in fear as the enraged knight started chasing him around the room while flailing her spear rapidly. He was distracted by the scene until he heard the sound of a small groan. He turned around to see Asriel begin to stir with his eyes screwed tightly shut in pain. Without a word, the skeleton walked over to the young monster and kneeled down next to him.

"hey ya kid, head still pounding?" he asked.

Asriel slowly blinked open his red eyes, feeling nothing but a throbbing pain in his head. He glanced around at his surroundings, unsure where he currently was. He slowly turned to see not only Sans staring at him but also Undyne chasing the robot around the room with her spear. The young monster tried to stand up, only to flinch both from the pain and dizziness dwelling in his head.  
Seeing the child was in need of healing, Sans pressed his skeletal hand against the back of Asriel's head. He muttered a quick apology when the monster whimpered in pain slightly from touch being applied to his bruise. Within a few seconds, the skeleton's hand started glowing blue as he began healing Asriel's injury.

It wasn't long till the bruise finally faded away. Asriel sighed in satisfaction, relieved that there was no longer any pounding in his head. But the moment he tried to sit up, he was still greeted with dizziness, prompting him to plop back on floor with an annoyed pout.

Sans chuckled as he joked "i would warn ya not to turn into a _spinster_ , but then i remembered you're both too young and a male."

Asriel couldn't prevent from bursting in laughter before slapping his hand over his mouth.

"Oh my god, Sans! That was a horrible joke!" he replied in a muffled tone due to his hand still covering his mouth.

"eh, i would say it's bad enough to kill me. but i'm already a skeleton." Sans responded with a shrug of his shoulders and a wink.

The young monster continued to laugh until it slowly died down as he found his thoughts drifting to the incident with the Flower Child. Much like Chara, he was able to see everything unfold through her eyes despite the fact he was unable to rip control away from his sibling. Many conflicted thoughts ran through his mind at not only that Undyne accidentally killed him from being overwhelmed by her determination, but also the Flower Child. Before his world faded to black, he could have swore that when the Flower Child cried out, she jerked her head high enough that her hat flew up slightly. Unsure if it was his imagination or not, Asriel found himself puzzled at the vague memory of seeing what he thought to be scared and worried brown eyes.

Sans frowned when he saw Asriel deep in thought. Despite the fact his power only allowed him to see mere small glimpses into the other timelines, he could tell when someone was deep in thought about a line of events that no longer existed.

 _"He's got the same face she always wore. Always deep in thought with a spaced out look in her eyes, as if she wasn't currently in the same universe. It gets easy to read expressions with all that kid made without knowing it."_ he thought to himself.

The two were interrupted from their thoughts by Undyne's yell. They turned to see the knight thrusting her spear into the air with a victorious yell and her red boot slammed down on the robot's back to prevent him from getting away.

"Rule number one buddy, never insult the captain of the king's royal guard!" Undyne commented with a smug smirk.

Meanwhile, back at the ruins, Toriel unleashed a shaky sigh as she tried to focus on reading her recipe book for cooking snails. But every word she tried to read, she found her thoughts drifting back to her son. Ever since Asriel left on his journey to confront his father, Toriel couldn't help but constantly worry about him. The thought of a monster attacking her son, especially due to him mysteriously having the appearance of a human child filled her heart with dread. The goat-like monster clenched her teeth as she gently closed the book, realizing that it was pointless to try to distract herself.

"I wonder if I should have gone with Asriel in the first place." Toriel thought to herself with a frown.

Acting on instinct alone, she found her red eyes glancing at the stairway leading to the ruins' exit. Her hands clenched slightly at the thought of taking a peek outside. The female monster knew that ever since she left her husband and the throne, she vowed never to step out from the ruins. She couldn't handle the thought of monsters waiting to slaughter the fallen humans she tried to desperately protect. But Toriel found that the worry for her son was constantly growing stronger with every second to the point it was driving her mad. Unable to take it anymore, the goat-like monster stood up from her chair and quickly dashed for the ruins' exit.

Toriel took in shaky breaths as her body shivered in nervousness. After a few moments of hesitation, she finally pushed open the door. The moment the door swung open, the female monster chattered her teeth from feeling the cold wind began to cut through her fur coat. She shivered as she desperately rubbed her hands against her arms, trying to get use to the cold she kept herself locked away for countless years. Toriel's feet crunched against the snow as she took her first few cautious steps out of the ruins.

Without a word, the former queen walked down the path leading to Snowdin. Her red eyes glanced around in amazement at the Underground she was greeted with. Her last memory of the kingdom before locking herself away was seeing nothing but despair and hatred, but now she was greeted with the aura of happiness and hope. She kept walking until the sound of a twig snapped filled the air. The female monster gasped both out of fright and surprise as she immediately spun around. For a split-second she managed to see a glimpse of someone hide behind a lamp that seemed to conveniently have the right shape to hide them away from view.

"Who's there? I promise you I don't mean any harm." Toriel stated with a friendly smile.

But much to her surprise, the female monster could of sworn that the figure snarled in frustration. She didn't understand whether the figure was angry about being spotted or at the fact she was willing to show mercy rather than to fight.

Finally she was awakened from her thoughts by the figure saying "I'm not worried about that. I know you wouldn't attack."

"Well if you know I won't attack, why won't you come out?" Toriel asked out of confusion.

"Because I..." the figure instantly shouted, startling the motherly monster before she lowered to a quieter tone as she continued, "I don't want to you to see me."

Toriel found herself truly puzzled by the mysterious figure. She didn't know why but she felt like the sound of figure's voice struck a familiar chord with her. Her eyes closed in thought as she sorted through her memories, trying to recall who the voice belonged to. All of the sudden, the memory of herself trying to fight back tears as she carried a dead child's body in her arms appeared. She could recall the heartbreak she felt as she clung the child's body closely to her chest, ignoring the fact she was getting both blood and seeds on her dress and fur.

 _"Wait, it couldn't be..."_ Toriel thought to herself as another memory drifted into her mind.

_Toriel chest heaved as she ran fast as she could, carrying the child's dead body in her arms. She glanced down at the girl's face that seemed both peaceful yet sad at the same time. Seeing that face broke her heart, knowing that the child would never open her eyes ever again._

_"Don't worry child, I will not let him take your soul. I refuse to let you suffer anymore than you already have." she reinsured as she focused on getting as far away from the castle as she could._

_The queen of monsters kept running despite her constant pounding heart begging her to take a rest. She kept running until she heard the sounds of guards. She sucked in a sharp breath a she quickly hid behind some bushes. The female monster did her best from letting out her exhausted breaths as the knights grew nearing. She silently backed into the darkness of the corners in attempt to shield herself from the view of the knights. Her red eyes focused on the monsters in black armor running around the courtyard, being led by a fierce female knight with a yellow glowing eye._

_Toriel's body tensed as she heard the female knight bark at the other knights for them to find the missing queen. This prompted her to raise her brows in surprise at the fact that her former husband didn't mention to the knights that she had fled with their key to escaping the Underground. Deciding to push aside the king's confusing motives aside, she remained silent as she watched the knights continue to search for her. After a few minutes, the knights gave up on searching the courtyard and moved on._

_The female monster finally released a long sigh, relieved of from both of the tension and fear building up in her. But unfortunately, the moment Toriel walked from the corner, she ended up bumping into a female dinosaur-like monster wearing a white lab coat and glasses._

_"Your majesty?!" the yellow monster exclaimed in shock._

_With the fear of the knights finding and catching her, Toriel began to pled "Please you must help me. They mustn't take her, I wouldn't bare it!"_

_Her red eyes stared at the monster before her, growing concerned to see she was staring at her with her mouth hanging open. Her grip tightened around the child's body as the need to protect it grew stronger with every second._

_"Please, you must help me." she pleaded in a shaky tone, near the verge of tears._

_The yellow monster bit her lip nervously before finally sighing as she replied "Undyne would want me to do the right thing. Come on, I can take you to my lab in Hotlands. My name is Alphys by the way, I'm the royal scientist and I think I might have a way to help that human you're carrying."_

_Toriel smiled in happiness and relief with tears brimming at the corner of her eyes. Without another word, she silently began following the royal scientist._

Toriel immediately gasped upon recalling the memory, now understanding why the voice seemed so familiar to her.

"Child, is that really you?!" the former queen exclaimed in shock and happiness.

But instead of receiving an answer, the female monster was greeted with vines shooting out from the ground before her. She cried out in surprise as she immediately jumped back and blasted the vines with her fire magic. Within seconds, the vines were set ablaze before crumbling into ash. For a few brief seconds, the motherly monster saw a glimpse of none other than the Flower Child before she vanished in a red light. Toriel's body froze in shock as she stared where the child once stood, having recognized her as the very same girl that attacked Asriel.

Now knowing this, Toriel frowned in concern as her past and present memories of the Flower Child began clashing with each other, prompting her ask herself "Child, whatever did Alphys do to you to make you this way?"

Back at Alphys' lab, the robot grunted and grumbled as Undyne tied him firmly to a chair.

"Alright buddy start talking or else you deal with the spear of justice!" she threatened as she jabbed at him.

"Such big words coming from a monster that is traveling with a human of all things." the robot commented with the roll of his eyes.

Undyne opened her mouth to object the statement until she recalled how Asriel's true form couldn't be seen. Instead she chose to huff as she slightly banged the top of her spear on top of the robot's head, earning a grunt and stream of complaints from him. Having earned this reaction, the knight couldn't help but snicker in amusement. Eventually her laughter slowly quieted down when she noticed Asriel approach the robot with curiosity filling his red eyes.

"Um, I know this might be odd for me to ask, but exactly who are you and what is this place?" he asked.

The robot's mouth hung ajar in shock before firmly pursing his lips together in an offended manner.

"Well, you would think that this place would be more talked about. This is Mettaton Laboratories. After the royal scientist Alphys disappeared, Underground superstar sensational Mettaton bought this lab to prevent it from fading into obscurity." the robotic-monster replied, grinning slightly as he described Mettaton.

"Ha, like that bucket of bolts would be interested in this place. He's just a stuck up snob that's only interested in fame." Undyne bitterly remarked.

Sans snickered slightly before commenting that he might be rubbing of Undyne since she had made an unintentionally pun. His grin grew wider when he saw the female monster glare at him for pointing out the fact she didn't care for.

"Bolts for... well Madame, if I could even call you that despite how rude you are, Mettaton is an inspiration to all monsters in the underground. Though I doubt you would understand that since you're much too busy swinging around that stick of yours while screaming like a hooligan." the robot responded in an insulted tone.

The female monster was about to respond until she felt a hand gently tap her arm. She glanced down to see Asriel shaking his head to silently tell her to ignore the comment. Knowing that it was more important to get answers than constantly throw insults back and forth, the knight grumbled as she firmly folded her arms across her chest.  
Asriel smiled slightly from seeing his friend heed his advice before directing his attention toward the robot once more.

"Alright, I now understand what this place is, but I still don't know who you are." the young monster stated.

"Humans, such clueless beings." the robot huffed before continuing, "Well after the fantastic and handsome Mettaton bought the labs, he knew that someone needed to run the place. So that is how I, the brilliant Attem came to be!"


	10. It's Showtime!

Chapter 10

"Wait, so this Mettaton left you in charge?" Asriel asked partially out of confusion, "If he bought the lab, why doesn't he just run it himself?"

"I had no idea humans are this clueless!" Attem scoffed, "The glorious Mettaton can't be bothered take care of both a lab and a TV show. Besides his image can't be associated with science, otherwise many of his fans will write him off as a geeky nerd and no one wants that."

Undyne snarled with her gripe tightening around her spear, angered that the robot was unintentionally making an insulting comment toward Alphys.

"But regardless of why the Underground's most popular celebrity can't run a lab, you shouldn't be here in case he shows up." the robot stated.

He began to explain how Mettaton wanted to be more useful to the monsters of the Underground and requested to be given anti-human defenses. The defenses implants were successful, transforming the super idol into a human hunter extraordinaire.  
Asriel muzzle scrunched up in both worry and nervousness; he wasn't sure how to deal with a killer robot that would end up seeing him as a human. He only hoped that he wouldn't end up encountering the deadly robot.

"Well if your rude friend would untie me, I could head back to check Mettaton's location. He could be nearby or not." Attem commented, putting more emphasis on the word "friend."

"Undyne, I know you don't like this guy but I think it's best if we let him go. I really don't want to be caught off guard by this Mettaton guy." Asriel commented whilst rubbing his arm.

Undyne huffed with her arms crossed; she didn't like the idea of freeing the robot but understood the child's fears. She admittedly would be a bit worried if all the monsters in the underground mistook her for their final key to breaking the barrier. The female monster grunted with a sigh of defeat as she untied Attem. She nearly had to bite her tongue to prevent herself from making a snarky comment when the robot gave her a smug grin.  
Attem chuckled slightly upon standing up and dusting off his lab coat.

"At least the human is smart. Still clueless though. Now I'll be back with my report." he commented before leaving the room.

Quite many minutes had passed by. Undyne grumbled in annoyance, regretting her decision in setting the robot free. She glanced over at Asriel to see him trying to wake up Sans who had fallen asleep. She rolled her single eye before her thoughts drifted to the vision Sans showed her. She curled her hands into two firm fists as she tried to hide away her expression of distraught. She couldn't believe that there was a timeline where she accidentally killed Asriel. The knight couldn't understand what made that version of her forget her goal.

She remained silent as she lifted up her hand and laid it on her eyepatch. Undyne recalled in vision that her determination was unlocked when she lost her eyepatch. This fact deeply confused her, especially since she never recalled how she lost her eye in the first place. Her brows furrowed together as she tried to search her memories for any kind of accident or battle that resulted in the loss of her eye. But no matter how much she searched, there seemed to be a strange gap in her memory. Suddenly she was stirred from her thoughts with the loud sound of banging.

Asriel jumped off the floor in fear before running over to Undyne. The banging grew louder and louder, until finally a gray robot smashed through the wall. The young monster was surprised to see Sans had not awakened despite the robot making so much noise with his entrance. His red eyes glanced over at the robot once more; he found himself confused about the strange square robot until he noticed the flashing red M on the screen.

With a nervous gulp, he asked "Undyne, is that..."

The child never got to finish his sentence as the female monster grumbled in annoyance. Memories of the piano and grapes incident ended up flashing through her mind.

She let out a frustrated sigh as she answered "Yeah kid, that robot is the one they call Mettaton."

Meanwhile in another part of Hotlands, the Flower Child silently walked alone on the path. She paused as her eyes stared at a large and ominous machine in the distance. Her hands shook a bit in fear as they tightened around the handle of her flower basket. But despite this, she never tore her gaze off of the machine. Suddenly she felt a gust of wind brush by her, almost as if it was someone speaking in a strange tongue. Her body shook upon hearing the whispering wind as her eyes glanced toward the ground.

"I'm starting to gather up more bits and pieces of my shattered mind." she muttered to herself in a quiet tone, "I'm beginning to remember why I made this choice in the first place."

The wind blew once more, causing the girl to jump slightly in shock.

"No, no! I'm not having any second thoughts. I know that my choice has lead to serious consequences. But to tell you the truth, even if I had full knowledge of the events that would unfold when you first offered my the choice to change fate, I still would have done it. My mind is shattered, even now I'm tormented with a storm of thoughts. Kill, kill, kill, mercy, kill, kill, kill. That's the chaotic thoughts clashing in my head this very moment. But it's all worth it, just to save him." she confessed.

The wind blew a little softer than previously, prompting the child to lower her head as her body shook.

"I know. I KNOW! I've been doing everything to get rid of her! But it seems no matter what, Asriel keeps letting her take control. It's her fault, it's because of her that Asriel can never be happy! I need to silence her. I need to kill her. **I need to erase her from existence.** " the flower child stated, her voice filling with more venom and hatred with each word.

The wind blew a bit harder, encouraging the Flower Child to lift up her head curiously and glue her gaze upon the ominous machine in the distant.

"Really, that was the Core's purpose? You never told me that before. So how will it help me save Asriel?" she spoke up in interest.

Her mouth slowly opened in shock as the wind blew. Her hands clenched tighter around the flower basket's handle as she fell silent.

Finally after a few seconds, she replied "I understand. I'll collect the other six souls. And should Asriel or anyone else stand in my way, I won't hesitate to deal with them by any means."

Back at the Lab, Undyne constantly rubbed her fingers against the temple of her forehead, groaning as she listened Mettaton drone on and on.  
Asriel did his best to force back his snickers of amusement. While he was worried about Mettaton believing him to be a human, he couldn't help but find himself amused by Undyne's annoyance at the square robot.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my show! Today's show segment is none other than a brand new episode of 'The Human Hunter'. In this episode, I have located a human in none other Mettaton Laboratories where many fabulous MTT products are being tested by the Underground's best scientists every day." the robot boasted with his microphone swinging through the air, "Now that I've found our human, it's time to collect his soul!"

Asriel froze in fear, unsure what else to do. Suddenly he found his view cut off by Undyne standing protectively in front of him.

"Not a chance cubey." the knight mocked with a spear in hand, "This kid is under my protection while I deliver him to Asgore personally."

"The brave Undyne protecting a human, my what a twist." Mettaton taunted with a laugh, "I imagine this must has come to a shock to all you darlings watching. The captain of the royal guard is protecting our very key to escaping the Underground. She must have lost her sanity from all that screaming like a madwoman."

The female monster snarled in anger, hating the robot more and more with each word. Suddenly, without warning, she saw Asriel run out from behind her and up to Mettaton.

"Undyne is not crazy!" the young monster shouted in anger, "She's the bravest knight to ever have lived! She's the best at her job and is dedicated. She's even dedicated to taking me to Asgore at all costs. So you have no right to mock her!"

The room fell silent with no other words being uttered by the three figures, only the occasionally snore from Sans to break the silence.  
Finally the silence was shattered by Mettaton laughing. His metal body shook as he kept constantly laughing. He laughed for a few minutes until finally calming down. Deciding to take advantage of the interesting scenario, he announced a quiz show.  
Asriel grinned the nervously when he heard the robot inform him that for every wrong answer he gets, someone will get shocked. But if he got enough right, he would allow him and Undyne to go deeper within Hotlands.

The female monster grunted with her arms crossed and encouraged "I find the quiz idea to be stupid, but come on kid. After all I have faith in ya."

Gaining confidence and determination, Asriel decided to accept Mettaton's terms. He took in slow and steady breaths as the first question was presented to him. A part of him was nervous at picking the wrong answer, but that nervousness was mostly drowned out by the determination he could feel pounding in his heart. Finally gathering up his nerves, he picked one of the answers. Much to his happiness, he was correct and rewarded with confetti raining down on his head. Feeling more confident, he moved onto the next question. But much to his shock, this time he ended up picking the wrong answer.

Without warning, Mettaton shot electricity from his hand. The young monster squeezed his eyes, awaiting the pain from being electrocuted. But much to his surprise, he was instead greeted with the sound of Undyne yelling. He opened his eyes to see the knight in front of him once more, breathing heavily as some smoke radiated off of her body. It was then he realized the knight had got in front of him in order to take the shock.

"Undyne, you didn't need to do that." he stated with a worried frown.

Undyne took in a few more heavy breaths more grinning to reinsure the monster.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine, though I would prefer if you don't get anymore questions wrong. Besides I need redeem myself. I can't let simple determination blind me from my goals." she insured.

Asriel stared at the knight with his eyes wide in shock. He knew she was referring to the alternate timeline where she accidentally killed both him and Chara. He didn't understand how she could still have memories of events that no longer happened. But shook his head as he refocused on the task of passing Mettaton's quiz show, deciding to worry about the alternate timeline later.

Meanwhile, Toriel remained speechless as she finally entered Snowdin. Her red eyes glanced around at the happy monsters going among their business. She never imagined that the monsters could recover so easily after the supposed death of her son. For the longest time, she believed there were no remaining kind souls in the Underground except for the voice she often heard from the other side of the ruins' door. Remembering her current task, she turned her head toward a restaurant called "Grillby's." Hoping to gain information about her son, she entered the restaurant.

Much to her surprise, inside she was greeted with a colorful atmosphere. Monsters happily chatted and ate amongst themselves. Unsure what else to do, she walked over and took a seat at a barstool at the counter. She was stirred from her thoughts by a flaming monster approaching the counter. The female monster tilted her head in confusion as the monster continued to stare at her as he cleaned a glass cup.

Finally as voice spoke up "Grillby is wanting to know what you wish to order."

Toriel turned to see a pink bird in a dress relaxing against the counter alongside an orange fish.

Smiling kindly, she answered "Oh I don't wish to order anything. I was wondering if you saw a child come through earlier?"

Grillby remained silent as he pressed his hand against his chin in thought. Suddenly his head jerked upwards as he snapped his fingers upon remembering.

Knowing what he meant, the bird said "Grillby says he did see a child earlier. He was eating in here with one of his usual customers. The kid is probably long gone now, but yes, he did pass through her."

Toriel couldn't help but sigh in relief, glad that her son was still alive and safe. She thanked the two monsters with a smile before leaving the restaurant. The female monster shivered as the cold wind brushed through her fur once more; she was still not use to Snowdin's cold weather. But before she could take a single step, someone crashed into her. She yelped as her body stumbled a bit, but she managed to remain upright. Seeing who had bumped into her, she turned to see a skeleton lying in the snow.

"Oh I'm so sorry, please let me help you up." she apologized before lifting the skeleton up with ease.

"NYEH, IT'S QUITE ALRIGHT. AFTER ALL I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHOULD BE THE ONE TO APOLOGIZE. IT IS THE PROPER THING TO DO!" the skeleton proclaimed.

The goat monster smiled at the skeleton before her, finding his personality amusing and kind. But suddenly, she gasped as a realization struck her. She remembered the voice she often talk to through the ruins' door often mentioned that he had a brother named Papyrus. She was stunned to learn that the skeleton before her was none other than the brother that she heard so much about. Hoping that he would have information about her son, she asked if he had seen a child pass through Snowdin.

"YOU MEAN PRINCE ASRIEL? OF COURSE I SAW HIM! APPARENTLY HE HEARD HOW MUCH I WANTED TO CATCH A HUMAN AND MADE HIMSELF LOOK LIKE ONE. STILL SURPRISED THAT WAS HIM. COULD HAVE SWORE HE DISAPPEARED OR SOMETHING." Papyrus answered in a proud tone.

Toriel gasped in shock; she couldn't believe Asriel successfully was able to shatter the illusion once more, making her wonder how many more monsters he successfully revealed his identity to. With hope growing in her heart, she asked the skeleton if he knew where Asriel currently is. Much to her happiness, Papyrus offered to escort her to Waterfall where he believed he might be. She smiled with tears breaming in her eyes, accepting the offer. Now she understood why the voice she spoke to talked so fondly about Papyrus. Without another word, the two started making their way to Waterfall.

Back at the lab, Asriel flinched when Undyne ended up getting shocked once again for him guessing the wrong answer.

"Kid this isn't funny anymore, stop getting me shocked and get the answers right!" Undyne snapped with her skin burnt and severely smoking.

"Well folks it seems we're nearing the end of our segment with everything tied. The human has to answer this final question in order to decide his fate!" Mettaton proclaimed, "If he gets it wrong then he will lose his soul this very minute. If he gets it right then he and his friend with no manners at all will get to proceed in Hotlands!"

Upon hearing this, Asriel couldn't help but raise a brow in confusion. It wasn't that he didn't understand the rules but rather that Mettaton described Undyne as having no manners. He didn't know why but the dialogue sounded very familiar to what Attem told the knight when they first encountered each other. Before he could piece together the reason why, he was snapped back to reality by Mettaton asking if he would smooch a ghost. Both he and Undyne stared in confusion when he saw all the answers were the same.

 _"That's odd. This question gives me no chance at failing. It's almost as if Mettaton wants to guarantee that I will go further into Hotlands. But why is that? Why does he want me to go further into Hotlands?"_ the young monster thought to himself.

Seeing nothing else to do, he picked an answer and little to his surprise the answer ended up being correct.

"Well you have it there folks, the human gets to proceed. But don't touch that dial darlings! There's more to come on the Mettaton Show!" the robot announced.

With that said, the robot activated his jets and flew up, smashing through the roof and leaving a giant hole.  
Seeing that the robot was gone, Undyne let out a sigh of exhaustion as she slumped to the ground. Her body ached and burned but she didn't care; she was glad that she was able to guarantee Asriel's protection. She managed to crack a smile when the young monster ran over to her and began healing her wounds.

"Heh, I knew you had in you. Never lost faith." she complimented as she felt her strength returning.

"Even during those times you were screaming at me to get the answer right?" Asriel replied with a raised brow and laugh.

Undyne snorted a laugh before replying "Alright, I'll admit it. I may have lost a bit of faith in you after you got a string of questions wrong and kept getting me electrocuted. But hey, you still managed to pull through for me. You're so much like your dad, always willing to come through for others no matter what. Because you managed to beat that bucket of bolt's dumb quiz show, you managing to keep me from being turned into a fried fish."

Suddenly with the last of her words, Sans finally woke up. He turned his head toward the knight with a smug yet amused smile.

"i was right when i said i was rubbing off on you." he chuckled, "you ended up making another unintentional pun. keep it up and soon enough you maybe will turn into a _clownfish_."

Undyne's eye twitched upon hearing the skeleton's pun. Then, without warning, the female monster let out an enraged yell whilst lunging at and successfully tackling the skeleton.  
Asriel's eyes widened as he watched the two roll around on the floor while the knight shouted a string of enraged words, reminding him why he never wished to get on her bad side.


End file.
